Through the eyes of a lost mind
by The Dessa
Summary: Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts it is not going to be typical! and things which could be called normal, changes when Harry finally falls for ginny and a strange stone does strange things... but only at Hogwarts... - discontinued.
1. Default Chapter

_Disclaimer: The characters in this fan fic are not mine (maybe a few of them), they belong to JKRowling, for she is far more superior than us commoners._

_Authors Note: Hello! This is my first Fan fic so please be gentle on me. I've waited scince October 2003 to start this and now that I have finished my GCSE exams I am free!!! Ootp spoilers. Here is the first chapter… enjoy!****_

Chapter 1

Sitting on a swing in the play park of Little Winging, staring moodily straight into the ground, was a boy. His back was hunched from the effects of being depressed, his frame was skinny but he was very tall, maybe not as tall as most fifteen-going on-sixteen years olds but tall enough.

Harry Potter had just lost his devoted godfather the previous summer term while enduring his OWL exams at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, he was currently in the grieving stage of mourning and was not talking to any one at all, in fact he hadn't uttered a single syllable since he got off the Hogwarts express, this was taken on quite pleasantly with the Dursleys who were happy not to accept any sign of life from Harry.

_There is no point in this_, thought Harry. He didn't want to soak up the Dursleys' ranting on how late he is out in the evenings even though Harry thought that the Dursleys would much prefer it if there was not a trace of him in house than if he were actually living in it.

He trudged to number four Privet drive, ignoring anyone's frightened stares of 'the potter boy', dragging his feet he barely noticed Mrs. Figg's knowing and condoling looks which highly irritated him. He hated all of the notes and letters of sympathy from anyone who knew Sirius's innocence. Harry didn't mind his two best friend's letters who tried vainly to disguise their sympathy, or the Hogwarts Game keeper, Hagrid's direct tone of it. The only thing that lowered his angry state of mind was Lupin's normal letters, he was the only one who understood what Harry felt like and he was the only one who Harry would write about his feelings to.

Reaching Number four Harry took in a deep breath as though about to step in poisonous gas and rang the doorbell, five minutes later bony Aunt Petunia was at the door unwillingly admitting Harry inside the house, She opened her mouth, about to tell Harry off no doubt, when an owl carrying a small package swooped in from the opened door and landed on Harry's shoulder, Harry took this opportunity to literally run from his aunt's ranting, so he bolted off up the stairs and reached his bedroom while slamming the door satisfactorily shut.

Harry looked around his room, it gave all signs of a teenage boy who didn't care at all about what he did during the hours he spent in the room, it was his domain and he could do whatever he liked in it, even if it meant that clothes messy and untidy as his hair was only visible, that his books were sprawled around on every inch of floor they could reach and that there seemed to be every clue of a magical boy living at number four, he didn't think that he was ever in the mood to clean the mess he makes after himself but could any body blame him except for the Dursleys?

Harry ripped open the letter and package, his patience with opening anything had retired long long ago. It was from Lupin. Ahh… immediate relief, he read over the letter.

_Hello Harry, I am sorry if this comes a day or two early, I am never too sure with owls, but have a happy birthday, hope you like the present and we'll see you soon._

_Lupin  _

Harry hoped that the _'we'll see you soon'_ meant that he would meet the order soon, but he dared keep his hopes up lest he suffered another major emotional breakdown. He opened the cube box impatiently, it was a small, glassy, misty, spherical stone, it had a rough surface and it strangely captured Harry's fullest attention and concentration for a few seconds as though extracting out something from him. Harry tapped it with his fingers three times wandering why he was so attracted to it, he stared at it meditatively then placed it gently into his pocket. Then the thought struck him, it wasn't his birthday today, the thirty-first of July was not for a few days, he referred back to the letter and skimmed his eyes over it for a second until he got his answer.

The next morning when Harry woke up he was yet again plunged into the depression of reality and wiped angrily away a tear of idealism from the side of his eye which was about to streak down his face.

The rest of the day was like every other day of the past month, the sun dragging against the sky as though deliberately unwilling not to carry on it's natural path. There were still chores to do and there was still Dudley's huge ego to endure but at least there was an end, Harry couldn't wait to get back to school at least he was sure that there was an exit from the maddening life at the Dursleys.

That night when Harry was in one of his deep meditative session in his room, thinking and brooding about Sirius, A golden light of fire shot at his eyes and brought him out of his reverie, Harry was panicked for a moment, thinking that there was a flying fire then he realized that a phoenix feather was levitated in front of his very eyes. He brought out a hand to touch it, when he made contact a small piece of parchment was folded in his hand, the name 'Harry Potter' written in loopy handwriting scrawled along the top of it. Harry opened it and read.

_Dear Harry, you'll be pleased to hear that members from the order will be picking you up to take you to the Burrow tomorrow at nine o'clock am. Further information will be brought to you there. _

_Professor Dumbledore          _

Harry was ecstatic, which was the first positive emotion that he felt since leaving Hogwarts. He would be meeting his friends after a month from not seeing them and at the Burrow as well! Harry immediately started packing, he found it difficult to find a starting point among the mess but decided on simply dumping everything into his trunk.

His broom, his robes, his clothes, his books, his countless dirty socks, everything was in his trunk except for his wand which he took extra care to have on him ever since the dementor attack last summer. He was ready to go, he had adrenaline pumping through his veins, his heart rate was up as though he had run a mile and the tips of his mouth were twitching as though he were about to smile silly to himself. Then he just noticed two owls at the windowsill looking tiresomely at Harry as though they had been standing there for at least half an hour waiting for him to take notice of them, which they had.

One of the owls he noticed was the Weasley's family owl, Errol. He looked as though he would lose consciousness at any minute so Harry immediately brought him over to Hedwig's water bowl. Harry took off the lump of a package from which Errol was carrying and opened it, there was letter from Ron, a bunch of chocolate, a letter from Hermione and a book on ancient rune, he didn't need to guess which person sent which present. The letter from Ron was typical and it mentioned all of the Chudley Cannon's sad and disappointing failures of the summer. Hermione's letter was also very typical of herself and it mentioned all of the exiting new discoveries of the ancient rune age, hence the book. Harry tossed his letters and presents in his trunk and took out a chocolate frog to munch on while he waited for nine o'clock the next day. After finishing the chocolate frog Harry didn't bother to brush his teeth but just tumbled on his bed, tying to go to sleep. He tossed and turned and eventually he did fall asleep, and the next morning he woke up with his eyes full of excitement and so much vigilance that it would make Mad-eye-Moody proud.

_Authors note: what did you think?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just the plot!_

_Authors Note: hope you liked the first chapter here is the second, thanks to my sister who helps me edit my chapters._

Chapter 2

His eyes alight, Harry practically jumped out of bed. He wasn't quite sure weather he had slept or not but he didn't care that very much at that moment. Harry checked his bedside alarm which he had set to wake him at seven thirty that morning and found that the time read five forty-five. Harry swore under his breath.

He tried to get back to sleep but the mass amount of adrenaline which he had somehow managed to escape the night before was pumping vigorously through him again. Harry gave up shortly and changed into his other pair of extremely baggy jeans and extensively long shirt realizing that he hadn't bothered to change when he went to bed.

Harry jumped down the stairs and tripped with vitality into the kitchen where Aunt petunia, Uncle Vernon or massive Dudley were nowhere to be seen; in Dudley's case this was a huge accomplishment. Harry knew that he ought to eat some breakfast even though he probably wouldn't eat it through all of his excitement, but he needed three hours to kill, as it was only six o'clock.

Ahhh! All of this waiting was driving him to insanity, and it was only six-thirty. Harry drummed his fingers on the breakfast table wondering what to do when Aunt Petunia strode into the kitchen all dressed and ready for another day.

'What are you doing' she snapped, Harry didn't reply but just kept on staring at the table his fingers still drumming. She seemed rather agitated by his behavior which was not surprising to Harry.

'Go outside now! I don't want you and your horrid scruffiness in my kitchen!' she barked and Harry was only too happy to have an excuse to get away from her and her scrutinizing stare of loathing. Harry thought during the month that he had stayed in privet drive, the Dursley's had completely forgotten the Order's warning at King's Cross station, Harry would have written to them and told them about his situation but that would just lead back to more letters of horrid empty sympathy and that was what Harry was trying to avoid the most.

Harry was walking around Little Whinging, as he always did every evening, giving the impression to the community that he was some sort of vampire strolling the streets alone at night. He was staring at the play park wondering what to do, so he simply sat on the swings and dived into thoughts about how the next month would be spent. That seemed to do the trick, a few hours passed by as quick as time is when your enjoying it the most, the next time Harry checked his watch is was ten minutes to nine.

'Uh oh' Harry breathed and sprinted back to the Durselys house arriving there at nine o'clock sharp. _Right_, thought Harry, _they should be here any minute now_. Believing this Harry sat on the steps of the stairs anxiously waiting for members of the Order to spectacularly save him from the horrid dark cloud that was number four. 

He sat and waited and waited and waited; this was driving him simply mad. _Where are they?_ Harry thought aggressively as though he could hurt them through his thoughts. Harry checked his battered watch once more, it was nine forty-five it had been four hours scince he woke up and nothing had happened. Oh God this was maddening, Harry sat there itching with annoyance he was about to hex the next person he saw and that was most likely the Dursleys, which didn't help his resistance to using his wand seeing as he wasn't allowed to use it.

At ten o'clock a flash of golden light alighted right in front of his face and Harry was lucky that none of the Dursleys were around to stampede him with more ranting about how non of the 'm' word should be carried out under their roof. Then he realised that another phoenix feather was levitating in front of him, instinctively he touched it and a letter written roughly not in Dumbledore's handwriting was held in his hand.

_Harry, really sorry mate but we can't pick you up today, urgent business has come to us at the order and we probably won't be able to get you for another week, sorry mate._

_Mundungus Fletcher_

_Number one seller of the black market_

No, no this can't happen, no this won't happen, no way, no chance, no, no, no.

'NO!' bellowed Harry which was the first word he said scince getting off the train. This couldn't be happening, Harry needed to get out, he couldn't stay here for another minute there was no way that would be happening, no, no, no! Without rational or irrational thinking Harry just acted, he ran up the stairs, grabbed his trunk, threw it down the stairs with all the anger that he had been bottling up scince Sirius's death, stomped out of the house and stuck out his wand hand vehemently.

Immediately the triple decker knight bus was in view and so was Stan Shunpike, popping out of the purple and into the daylight, he opened his mouth to introduce himself pompously, Harry didn't give him a chance to continue, he just stomped up the street to the knight bus, entering it while dragging his trunk unnoticeably along Stan's feet and sat down on one of the chairs.

'You 'arry Po'er?' he asked loudly. Harry just grunted his agreement.

'Why'd you call ya'selwf neviwle?' Stan asked loudly.

'Get me to the Burrow' grunted Harry moodily, staring at the floor angrily.

'A'righ' a'righ' keep ya 'air on' replied Stan, while Harry took out his money-bag from his trunk.

'Seven sickewls, don' fink you wan' 'ot chocolate ven?' he asked weakly and Harry gave him a death glare so Stan just took the money quietly and left Harry to continue his moody stares at the floor.

It took a while for Harry to register what he had just done, he would be going to the Burrow for the rest of the summer, he would be at the burrow today! For God's sake he would be at the burrow that afternoon! Suddenly Harry's mass amount of anger had subsided immediately at this thought and another load of adrenaline and excitement replaced it.

A while later Stan though he was brave enough to encounter Harry again, trying to be friendly he said.

'So… ya no' mad anymore innit.' He said gesturing to the _Daily Prophet_ that was sitting on another chair behind Harry, Harry grabbed it (still full of adrenaline)

'Uh… yeah' Harry replied trying to read the newspaper. 

'Heard vat…'

'Sorry, Stan but could I please read the paper alone?' Harry cut him off trying not to sound rude.

'Urm, yeah, course, Ver Burrow cumin in about twen'y minutes.'

'Thanks Stan' called Harry as Stan turned. Harry skimmed over the _Daily Prophet_ in the twenty minutes that he had, looks like the _Daily Prophet_ finally woke up and had quit making Harry to look like a mad attention seeker. There also seemed more attacks; the magical world seemed far more dangerous than last year.

When the twists, turns, stops and starts of the Knight bus was finally getting to Harry, he thought he was about to throw up then Stan's voice bellowed at him, 'Ver Burrow'. Instant relief swarmed over Harry. He stood up slowly feeling rather sick so he had to hold onto one of the wooden poles of the bus. Stan helped him with his trunk and also helped Harry off the bus.

Harry opened his green eyes to the sight before him. The peaceful house that was not standing up independently, with little explosions out of certain chimneys and noises exploding from certain room, this was where Harry belonged. He now had some of the adrenaline back and was walking up the garden bath to the door of the house. He rang the doorbell and instead of making a normal 'ding dong' sound, it made a rooster noise. Mrs. Weasley stood in the doorway looking shattered with worry.

'Harry!' she screamed in relief.

'Hello Mrs. Weasley' replied Harry in a muffled voice as he was engulfed in a huge motherly hug.

'Oh thank God your alright, I was worried sick' cried Mrs. Weasley.

'How did you know I was coming?' asked Harry.

'Dumbledore informed us dear, he very disappointed in you by the way, didn't expect you to run off like that' said Mrs. Weasley seriously.

'Well I couldn't stay in that house for another minute it was driving me crazy!'

'I know Harry but don't think that you're the only one going crazy' she said quietly. Just then Harry noticed the bags under her eyes. Harry decided to change the subject while Mrs. Weasley was showing him inside the house.

'So how did Dumbledore find out?'

'Mrs. Figg saw you going into the knight bus dear.'

'Oh' Harry said quietly, feeling guilty about making Mrs. Weasley so worried. 'Are Ron or Hermione anywhere?' Harry asked trying to change the subject again.

'Yes they are in the orchard with Fred, George and Ginny' she replied quickly, I need to send a message to Dumbledore.

Feeling guiltier Harry headed his way to the orchard where he shortly saw, Fred, George, Ginny and Ron having a mud fight and Hermione just watching them. Harry cleared his throat loudly to make his presence known. For a moment all Weasleys and Hermione looked guilty like children who have been caught doing something that they shouldn't do then they turned around unwillingly to face their supposed mother. Instant relief flocked their faces when they saw Harry but then worry and then relief returned.    

'Hiya!' Harry said.

'Harry, what-how-when?' squeaked Hermione.

'I though you were going to come here some time next week' said Ron happily.

'Great to see ya Harry!' yelled the twins in unison.

'Hey' said Ginny.

'Harry. What? How? When?' repeated Hermione confusedly.

'I sorta cracked when I got the letter saying that I'll come here next week' started Harry and the faces had another change in emotion, they all expressed eagerness.

'Yeah and?' said Ginny.

'Well, I grabbed my trunk and went onto the Knight Bus'

'Ouch' said Fred 'that must have made you sick'

'It did, but thankfully I didn't throw up' This explanation from Harry seemed to be enough for the twins and Ginny so they carried on with their mud fight, throwing bits of mud, apples even gnomes, actually they were throwing anything that was on the ground at each other. But Hermione and Ron wanted to hear more.

'Why didn't you stay at Privet drive, can you remember how you were transported last year?' said Hermione disapprovingly.

'Hermione, give him a break he just had a journey on the knight bus!' argued Ron.

'Ron he could have been in real danger, who knows what could have happened to him.'

'Oh give it a rest' interrupted Harry 'Will you two just stop fighting for just one minute!' There was an uncomfortable pause.

'Why don't you join in our mud fight Harry' Said Ron trying to lighten the mood.

'Yeah sure' Said Harry, and he got a bit of mud and threw it at Ginny who seemed more alight with a new victim, Ron had grabbed Hermione's arm who was suddenly very frightened and miming 'No' a lot, then she was caught in the circle of vengeance when George had hit her with half an apple.

Life at the Burrow was the only scrap of peace in a world shredded by war. 

_Author's Note: What do you think? Sorry about Stan Shunpike's accent. Please Review!   _


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I own non of the characters and thankfully do not have the pressure of writing the Potter books._

_Author's note: This Chapter is dedicated to my friend, Nora, and is a desperate attempt for her to read the Harry Potter books. There are Ootp spoilers in this fan fic but that should not matter to all of you because you should have read the fifth book by now, and if you haven't… shame on you! There is a topic in this chapter which I don't usually write so it might not end up very good…I don't really know, so give me your opinions at the end of the chapter by reviewing…please!_

Chapter 3

For most of the time Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were on business for the order so the Burrow was usually very quiet, or as quiet as it possibly could be when Fred and George are around. They frequently dropt in at the burrow as they now lived in Diagon Alley, Harry often wondered why they bought the flat on top of the shop seeing as they were found in the burrow on almost everyday.

Considering how quiet and peaceful it was at the Burrow, Harry seemed to be feeling different, uncomfortable, he couldn't quite place it but he thought that the only option was Sirius's death. He was still quiet on the subject but though that he was still depressed and untamingly grumpy, Harry thought that his anger had subsided a little, maybe it was because he was in residence of the magical world, surrounded by his friends.

Perhaps it wasn't Sirius's death which was making him uncomfortable, maybe it was something else, on second thought it had to be something else, it definitely was something else.

'Hey' spoke a cheerful voice, interrupting Harry's thoughts, it was Ginny and she took a seat at the head of the table, making her look somewhat superior to everyone else.

'Hi Ginny' replied one of her brothers, Harry didn't notice who it was that replied, he was too busy staring at her hair which she had left out, the morning gentle light hit it and her wonderful head movements made the light reflect her beautiful hair at different angles. Harry was completely drawn and mesmerized by it.

He noticed for the first time how there was so many shades of brilliant red in her hair, her hair was blazing, just like fire, just like a burning fire, fire is dangerous, this was dangerous! Harry looked quickly back down to his untouched porridge. What did he think he was doing? What on bloody earth was he doing?

'What am I doing?' he said audibly.

'Uh… Harry, what did you just say?' asked a puzzled looking Ron and Harry noticed Hermione very slightly smirk to herself. She caught him goggling at Ginny!

'Erm… nothing Ron, just er… thinking aloud' said Harry awkwardly, not knowing quiet how Ron would react which unnerved him a bit. Ron just looked from Harry to Ginny suspiciously then busied himself with finishing his breakfast.

There was an increasingly loud silence and Harry was increasingly reddening, Hermione seemed to be merciful that day because she tried to break the agonizing silence. At least that was what he thought.

'Harry, Ron would you like to have a walk, it seems like such a lovely day' said Hermione genially. Harry looked outside and sure enough the weather was more or less the complete opposite of Hermione's comment. The sky was covered in dark depressed clouds, the air was bitter with the harshness of the wind and anyone would have guessed that the seasons had swapped for a day.

'Uh… Hermione I don't know weather you noticed but the so called 'lovely day' is actually a - ' pointed out Ron.

'Looks like the old married couple is back' interrupted George, muttering to Fred who nodded gravely his agreement.

' Oh please, at least it's not raining!' she said to Ron authoritatively as though daring him to argue back.

'If its not raining now it doesn't mean that its not going to rain later…' and they continued bickering exactly like the old married couple which George described to Fred about. But Harry wasn't listening to them he was far more worried about what he had just done and what Ginny would think of him if she knew, could she know? Does she already know?

Almost like a reflex Harry looked up from his stone cold porridge and glanced at the head of the table. To Harry's relief Ginny was acting normally and was joking and talking nonchalantly with the twins.

'Fine Ron if you don't want a walk than I'll go with Harry, right Harry' said a very agitated Hermione, being caught half way through Harry's thoughts and not wanting to be caught again staring at Ginny, Harry replied in the affirmative.

'Sorry to interrupt the ever so appealing discussion but we have to leave we've got a business to run!' announced Fred.

'Then why aren't you ever in your shop?' said Hermione exasperatedly.

''Cause we're not bothered' replied George and with a small pop they dissaperated.

'You lot do what you want I'm going to my room if you ever need me' said Ginny, and Harry looked down, afraid if he was going to start staring again. But Ginny was forced to stay as an owl swooped into the kitchen through the broken window.

'Hogwarts owl!' yelled Ron happily. He tossed each person their letter and when Harry received his, gloom fell over his face; the envelope was much heavier and thicker than usual. It was not only his book list but also his O.W.L results.

'Oh no' murmured Harry to himself.

'Yes!' squealed Hermione 'it's the O.W.L results' 

Harry realised that Ron was wearing an identical expression to what he was feeling at that precise moment. He put on a brave face and with shaking hands opened his envelope and read.

_Dear Mr. Potter _

_I am sorry to inform you that you won't receive your OWL results due to technicalities you will be receiving them at the start of the new term. _

_Professor .M. McGonagoll       _

'Thank god' sighed Ron, Harry just put the piece of paper back in with his other letter in the envelope while Hermione looked like she was going to cry.

'Look Hermione, its not the end of the world' consoled Ron.

'I know, but I was really looking forward to them' said Hermione shakily

'Never mind' he replied.

'It's not like we'll never know what the results are' supplied Harry, Hermione's eyes were beginning to go shiny and they were slightly reddening around the perimeter.

'Harry lets go then, before it rains' said Hermione impatiently.

'Uh what?' said Harry, his mind blank.

'The walk!' Hermione said exasperatedly.

'Oh yeah, sorry' and they exited the tiny Kitchen into the almost stormy exterior of the Burrow.

Harry was feeling increasingly anxious, what was Hermione going to talk about? Her eyes seemed to have returned back to normal so she wouldn't talk about the O.W.L results or was she going to confront him point blank?

'Sad thing isn't it… the results?' started Hermione. Harry swallowed, he didn't remember being this nervous from Hermione before.

'Ye...yeah' he stammered. Then it him too quickly.

'Were you goggling at Ginny?' she asked directly.

'No' said Harry as though the subject was ridiculous.

'Don't deny it Harry I saw you staring at her for a full sixty seconds, I even counted!' They had stopped walking now and were out of sight from the house.

'I did not' said Harry hopelessly.

'Oh yes you did' she said interrogatingly knowing that she now had the upper hand, it was then Harry knew that she would never stop and so he had to tell her if he didn't want to die of starvation.

'Okay, okay, okay. I _was_…. er… uh…um…. staring at Ginny, now get off my case' said Harry shyly trying to sound agitated.

'Aha!' she said triumphantly, then she looked him straight in the eye and said very softly and tantalizingly, 'Why were you staring at Ginny, Harry?'

Harry was stuck, why was he staring at Ginny? He couldn't fancy her, no, no, that was not an option he knew nothing of the girl. So he told the truth.

'I don't know Hermione' he said quietly to the floor. Hermione said nothing for a few minutes, she was just looking at him then she nodded in too much of an irritating manner to Harry, it was too far knowing the look she gave him. Then a tapping of rain fell down and soon the rain was heavy enough to beat Harry to the ground.

'Come on Harry, we have to get back to the house' shouted Hermione and the next moment they were running towards the house as though running for their lives.

The next two hours passed by boringly enough and Harry was mercifully out of the presence of Ginny. Ron and Hermione were being unusually polite to each other. Towards the end of the duration of the dragging two hours the dark and murky clouds were clearing up and the blue graceful sky was growing increasingly move visible with every passing minute.

Out of the blue Mrs. Weasley suddenly apparated at Ron's side that afternoon, causing him to topple over and land flat on his back on the floor. Mrs. Weasley was all out of breath and red in the face as though she had run a mile. When the giggling had stopped Mrs. Weasley made an announcement.

'Alright dears I have four and a half hours to take you shopping in Diagon Alley for your school things, so everyone get up and get ready because I have a mount load of things to do.' And just when everyone stood up and stopped what they were doing she shouted annoyed.

'Hurry up, hurry up I don't have much time' and every one ran to the staircase.

Half an hour later Harry was covered from head to foot in soot from the effects of flooing into the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace. He was busy dusting himself when Ginny came right after him.

'Come on Harry help me up, don't just stand there' He hesitated a moment then helped her up.

'God I don't believe how sooty that damn fireplace is, couldn't someone just simply clean it? It would make everyone's life a hell of a lot easier.'

'Yeah but most people just apparate to Diagon alley they don't usually need to floo Ginny, they apparate' reasoned Harry.

'Oh shut up Harry' said Ginny irritated and Harry, not wanting to get on the wrong side of her as he remembered what happened to Malfoy with the bat-bogey spell, shut his mouth immediately. Shortly after that Mrs. Weasley was accompanied by not only a mouth full of soot, but Ron and Hermione as well.

'Okay I have to keep a watch on you so don't go wandering around, do you all have your book lists?' and everyone nodded vehemently.

'Good, good, all right, Flourish and Blotts first then' she directed bossily and everyone followed her command. Nothing much happened in the shops but everyone was very busy buying their school things and for some reason Mrs. Weasley was very anxious to get out of Diagon alley, probably to get back to the Order.

At the end of their shopping trip every one was battered and tired even energetic Mrs. Weasley.

'Please mum, lets stop at the Leaky Cauldron and eat something before going home' pleaded Ginny.

'We'll be at home in just a few minutes' said Mrs. Weasley directly.

'Mum if I don't eat something now I think that I'll die in the grate!' persisted Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley seemed to have given up so she gave in.

'Alright, go and find seats and I'll come with some pasties' she said helplessly.

'Works every time' murmured Ginny to Hermione and she giggled in return. Soon enough Harry found himself eavesdropping in on their conversation.

'…the trick is to keep nagging and seal your efforts with a good death scare' Harry then was interrupted from listening when a sharp jab in his ribs met him, he turned to his left slightly annoyed when he realized it was Ron, suddenly Harry felt like he was caught again doing something he shouldn't have, but Ron was smiling and so Harry eased a bit.

'Harry look over there to your right a bit, a bit more, yeah, who do you think that person is?' asked Ron eagerly, It was a mid twenties looking woman, she had very long brunette hair probably about three feet long and very dark eyes probably black or very dark brown, she had clear skin and long dangly earring. She wore baggy jeans and a white T-shirt.

'How am I supposed to know?' replied Harry.

'Oh nothing' murmured Ron, more to himself than to Harry.

'What are you talking about?' said Hermione which made the two boys jump in their seats.

'Oh… uh nothing Hermione' said Ron hesitantly. Hermione narrowed her eyes but said nothing and moved away.    

'Phew, we're lucky to still have our heads innit?' breathed Ron.

'Yeah, how did you notice that woman any way, I usually don't pay any attention to any stranger when I'm in a public place' asked Harry quietly, lowering his voice to a low whisper so that Hermione would not come over and interrogate them. But Ron started stammering and blushing, so Harry decided to be a mate and not torture him even though he had the tools in which to do so. Mrs. Weasley arrived with the pasties at that moment for which Ron was very grateful for and so was Ginny, evidently she shared Ron's talent for stuffing food energetically into her mouth and making everyone wince, Harry was grateful for that because it was a very good reason not to start goggling at her. This was what Harry was in fear of doing for the whole day.

'Right, has everyone finished?' asked Mrs. Weasley kindly; she seemed a bit more relaxed after she ate. Harry Ron and Hermione nodded and Ginny seemed too content to move her head, the food had also relaxed her.

'Right then, Ron you floo home first then Harry then Hermione and if the young lady can walk, Ginny' said Mrs. Weasley and just like the beginning of the trip everyone followed her command.

'By the way what is the time?' asked Ginny.

'Six o'clock' said Harry and Mrs. Weasley kind eyes slightly widened with worry, and she was more anxious than ever that day to get to the burrow.

In the next few minutes Harry was tucking in his elbows and closing his eyes shut trying to not think of the motion of his pasties were taking inside his stomach, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to eat before flooing, but thankfully Harry ended up on the wooded kitchen floor of the Burrow with his pasties in the right place. There was not much light in the kitchen despite the fire in the grate and there was no one around, the shutters of the windows were shut and there was a strange smell of burnt paper, Harry looked up and a greenish smoke was lingering on the ceiling. Ron was already there and he looked just as worried as Harry, something was not right here, shortly after Harry's arrival Hermione and Ginny came out of the fireplace and Mrs. Weasley had apparated, she didn't seem flustered about the change of mood which took place in the house.

'Oh I am so sorry dears, I forgot to tell you, I take extra precautions when leaving the house' said Mrs. Weasley and with a few flicks of her wand the house was back to normal again.

'Now go and do something I have to cook dinner before your father and brothers arrive' She said while taking out a dozen pots and pans.

Within the next hour Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, Bill and Charlie were comfortably seated in the living room and there was no regret for not inviting Percy for dinner, once again Mrs. Weasley ordered for the dinner to be eaten outside like the summer after Harry's third year. It was calm, peaceful and tranquil, which was why Harry longed to stay over at the burrow every year. When Harry got up from the humble family there was one last surprise waiting for him. A big bang and purple lights appeared in front of Harry's eyes.

_Authors Note: I have been delighted with the reviews that I have received so I will write my own notes to my reviewers._

_Miraboo: Thank you very much, reading your reviews were the highlight of my day._

_Sassy winner: I respect your opinions and thank you for your review._

_My eyes r dieing: Thank you for your review, I respect your opinions as well and am not crying over being thought that my fan fic is boring but erm... you didn't actually read it… try reading it the could you please review it._

_Thanks to my sister for helping me proof read this chapter, I owe her a lot!_

_My last comment to all of you is to please review! _


	4. Chapter four

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, bla bla bla._

_Author's note: Here is Chapter four - finally, I am so sorry tghat I didn't post this up sooner but things have been a little hectic with the damn web site, any way I promise to post my other chapters sooner, hope you'll enjoy it, thanks to my sister who helps me proof read it, I really liked your reviews and like my last chapter I'll write a little note for each of you at the end of the Chapter, I am very hesitant with this Chapter I get the sense that my standard is slipping with every chapter that I write, so I dunno how this will turn out to be, I am sorry if it's too long I am trying to cut it down but with every chapter they go a bit longer, the weather is really horrible here in the UK… um… here's the fourth chapter… enjoy._

Chapter 4

Harry's heart jumped into his throat from the shock of the bang, his eyes were temporarily blinded from the purple lights, he rubbed his eyes and tried searching for his wand but it wasn't on him, someone must have taken his wand because he remembered vividly that he had put it in his pocket right before he left for Diagon alley.

When he came round to being able to see blurrily even with his round glasses he was beyond the state of panic, but what came next was far more shocking than what he was able to take in that moment.

Little golden lights were falling slowly and gracefully from the ceiling and he then noticed that a big chocolate cake was levitated in front of him saying plainly 'Happy Birthday' in dark chocolate, and pieces of different chocolate coloured balloons decorated it. The little lights now transfigured themselves into seven different presents, they hung in the air for a while and then flew towards Harry.

'Happy birthday Harry' squealed Hermione in delight.

'Oh my God' breathed Harry, 'Thank you' he breathed in relief.

'The big bang and the purple lights was my idea' shouted George proudly from across the room.

'That was very um… good, George but maybe the lights were a little too bright' then Harry remembered and panic flew over him again, 'do you know what happened to my wand?'

'Oh, that was my idea' shouted Fred from across the room, 'we thought that you might do something stupid with it, like stick it up mum's nose.'

'Ha ha, very funny' said Harry still rubbing his eyes, remembering the time he did stick his wand up the nose of a troll, 'Thank you very much Mrs. Weasley for the cake, it's very nice' he said appreciatively.

'Oh it was nothing dear' she replied fondly.

'Come on Harry, open up the presents!' said Ron excitedly, the next ten minutes was spent purely on Ron's wish.

Harry received a clump of sugar free sweets from Hermione, a giant bright orange poster of the Chudley Cannons from Ron which temporarily blinded Harry's already vulnerable eyes again, a fine pair of dragon hide gloves from Charlie, a large wooden cartouche with Harry's name in hieroglyphics engraved on it from Bill (no doubt from Egypt), a deluxe pack of 'skiving snackboxes' from Fred and George, a hand knitted hat with moving pictures of the four Quidditch balls from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley (which Harry knew he would never wear) and surprisingly  a wooden box with decorating white triangles around the sides from Ginny, Harry opened the box and was relieved to find twelve dungbombs inside it. 

The remainder of the summer holiday flew typically by like any summer where Harry is enjoying himself, as everyday went by he found out more and more about Ginny, she was a very easy person to talk to and after four years of ignoring the girl, Harry found that she had a very distinct character, there was nothing typical about her except the Weasley hair which he found that he really adored, he had to usually catch himself when he found that he was slipping into the dream like state, that was goggling at Ginny, and Hermione gave herself a lot more smirks.

The time came to pack for the next day where Harry would return to Hogwarts, Harry noticed that his trunk was the messiest and untidiest he ever had, had he been neglecting his trunk this much? Well it was record braking for him.

All too soon Harry found himself facing the solid-like appearance of the brick wall at King's Cross station to enter the platform which he always dreads and longs to meet. Ron, Hermione and Harry helped each other lift and drag their heavy trunks into one of the last compartments of the scarlet Hogwarts express. Once they were all seated comfortably they lapsed into static but not tense silence, Hermione seemingly bored with the absence of conversation brought out a book and began to read. There was no life in the carriage as Ginny had chosen to sit with her classmates.

With Hermione out of any possibility of involvement in a conversation, Harry and Ron began to play a game of exploding snap, that thoroughly brought them out of the plane of boredom. Harry saw and idea flicker across Hermione's face, she put her book down on her lap and said,

'Don't you think we should do something to that door?'

'What do you mean?' asked Harry.

'Like lock it or something so that Malfoy won't come in here and irritate us'

'Hmm… that sounds like a good idea but if we lock it Malfoy will just open it' said Ron,

'Not if we use bolting charm'

'The what?' asked Ron,

'There are many types of locking charms, the bolting charm is a type of a more complex locking charm so the only way that anybody would be able to unlock the door would be if you read this book' and she lifted up the book she was reading.

'Sounds good, go ahead then' said Ron. Hermione stood and performed the charm, a bluish coloured light emitted from the tip of her wand and a wafting slight vapor glided off the beam of light.

They were of course correct in their estimation that the visit from Malfoy was inevitable, he tried to unlock the door with his wand and as Hermione explained he couldn't open it, it looked like Malfoy like Harry and Ron didn't read their new school books. Malfoy then resorted to using his bare hands to try and bombard the door open, for some strange reason Malfoy seemed to really want to come into the compartment, at the end of his efforts he turned away with whatever pride he had left, he was also slightly pink in the face which was the icing on the cake for the trio's laughter to burst out uncontrollably like a great dam.

Ron and Hermione had to leave after that incident remembering that they had to meet up in the prefects carriage for their meeting, leaving Harry by himself, he didn't mind, this way he could think about anything without being interrupted, but he was interrupted, not by Malfoy but by a little girl, she had black hair that was tied in pony tail, and judging by her height and her frightened face she looked like a first year, she was tiptoeing into the room, trying not to be noticed.

'What are you doing?' asked Harry kindly, not wanting to frighten her.

'Um… um… I lost my way' she squeaked quietly.

'Well where did you want to go?' she hesitated then replied

'I'm trying to find the toilet'

'It's down the corridor and to your second left.' Harry supplied kindly.

'Thank you' she squeaked again.

'Any time' but a few minutes later she came up to him again

'Um…er, excuse me'

'Yes?'

'The door is locked and I can't get it open'

'Oh sorry about that, my friend locked it for a very good reason' and Harry, pointing his wand at the door clearly said the counter curse that Hermione taught him and Ron that afternoon if they ever needed to unlock the door. This time a green beam of light hit the door and a green vapor rose from the light. Then the door automatically unlocked itself and opened up to let anyone through.

'Wow' whispered the little girl, she then looked ashen faced as though she had committed a crime. Harry bent his head so he could look at her easier as his height made it a little uncomfortable on his neck when standing up to look at such a little girl.

'Are you muggle born by any chance' asked Harry swiftly.

'What is a muggle born?' she asked shakily.

'A muggle born is a person who has magical powers, but born from a family with no magical powers' said Harry slowly. She nodded her head slowly not knowing how to react.

'Well um…thank you' she said quietly and left through the open door.

Harry then sat in silence staring out the window at the peaceful weather and of the farms and hills; the sunset was arriving as that dull cloudy colour came over the sky. Harry was so absorbed in thinking that he didn't notice the little girl slip past him and out of the compartment.

When the sun had fully set the train slowed down and reached to a halt at Hogsmede station, Ron and Hermione had arrived back at Harry's compartment half an hour before the train stopped. Harry stepped out of the scarlet train and heard a voice that swamped him with comfort. It was Hagrid.

'Firs' years, firs' years this way!' He called out and repeated

'Hi Hagrid' called the trio and Hagrid gave a wave of greeting.

'I'll see you at the feast' Hagrid called and the next thing Harry saw was the first years riding the boats across the lake with Hagrid. 

'Come on I'm starving' said Ron and they all got on a horseless carriage (but not for Harry) with a fifth year boy, taking them to the castle. Once they were seated at the Gryffindor table and everyone else seated at their own house table, severe Professor McGonagoll walked to the front of the staff table and placed a wooden stool at the center so everyone could see it, on top of that the patched and frayed Sorting Hat sat still on the stool.

'When I call your name out come to the stool, sit on it, and put the hat on your head, when the hat shouts out the house you are supposed to be in, go and sit on that house table' said Professor McGonagoll formidably and the already frightened looking first years looked a little bit relieved.

'Baker, Butch' and a little boy with brown hair gingerly sat on the stool and put the hat on, it immediately shouted 'HUFFLPUFF' and he toppled over in delight, around five more first years were sorted until the little girl whom Harry met on the train was called, her name was Aimi Spencer and she nearly fell over when her name was called through fright, she also nearly feel over in delight just as Butch Baker was, but Aimi was called as a Gryffindor and she was greeted very warmly by all of the Gryffindor house mates and especially Harry. About ten more first years were sorted into the decided house and much to Ron's happiness the plates sparkled with food.

It was then, when Ron was stuffing his face with so much food he could barely make a muffled sound and when Hermione was staring death glares at him did Harry notice that an appraising sort of look came over Ginny from way over at the end of the Gryffindor table, she was looking at the fifth year boy who sat with Hermione, Ron and himself in the horseless carriage, Harry couldn't say that he felt much at first, he thought that he felt a swamping sense of sadness and disappointment, however this only lasted a very few moments as it was followed up quickly by anger and bitterness, one might call it jealousy.

Jealous? Why should Harry be jealous? He didn't like Ginny in a romantic sort of way, or did he? No, no that couldn't be possible, why couldn't it not be possible? He didn't like her, yes he liked her as a friend and Harry doubted that Ginny felt spiteful towards himself but something was nagging at the back of Harry's mind.

Harry's frustration was multiplied as a sharp pain in his foot met him, Hermione had kicked him under the table, apparently she had been following Harry's movements and Harry should have probably thanked her, for she caught him before Ron had a chance to finish chewing his food and swallow it down and notice Harry acting strangely which would lead to very awkward questions. Hermione had a slightly worried expression on her face.

'What's gone into you?'

'Nothing…nothing' he murmured

'Harry you ha…'

'I said nothing Hermione…' whispered Harry menacingly, and she turned from him looking as though he would regret his decision. What was worse than seeing that dreamy sort of look on Ginny's face was when she came over to sit by them.

'Hey Hermione, do you know that guy over there at the Ravenclaw table' murmured Ginny to Hermione and as usual, Harry started eavesdropping into their conversation, he was not pleased with what he heard.

'Yes' replied Hermione nonchalantly,

'Don't you think he is really good-looking?' asked Ginny fondly.

'Well um…I guess so, _why_?' Hermione said the 'why' bit of the sentence tauntingly.

'Oh…no reason'

'Oh that's right, you came all the way from the other end of the table and asked me about a good looking boy for absolutely no reason, that is so believable'

'Oh shut up Hermione, well um…do you know who he is' and Ginny continued to stare over at the Ravenclaw table.

'Oh I think I saw him at the prefects' meeting in the train-'

'He's a prefect!'

'Yes he is, I think his name is quite ridiculous actually, it's sort of hard to not remember' said Hermione playing with time.

'And…' said Ginny eagerly.

'I think it was… Max Sandwich' and Harry had to force his mouth shut before he snorted into his plate.

'What! What a stupid name, but he probably isn't so stupid considering he's in Ravenclaw'

'No, he probably isn- OUCH!' screamed Hermione and Harry continued to look innocent, Harry had enough and decided that if the two girls wouldn't stop the conversation he would, and as Hermione was sitting next to him and as she had already stomped on his foot he thought he would repay the favor.

'Are you alright Hermione?' asked a concerned Ron.

'Yes, yes I'm alright, I think I must have banged my foot against the leg of the table.' Said Hermione fussily.

'Are you sure you're alright?'

'I'll live, if that's what your worried about' said Hermione now agitated, and she seemed to be angry with Harry.

'No need to be rude' retorted Ron, oh no, they had started bickering, again.

'Um Ron… Hermione'll be fine okay?' said Harry exasperatedly, and Ron turned back to his Yorkshire pudding with no doubt a bit more resentment towards Hermione than he had before Harry stomped on her foot.

Harry was now feeling a crude mixture of anger and bitterness which was also heavily loaded with jealousy, He took off from the great hall the first, not wanting to be around Ginny and her dreamy looks, he stomped off up the marble staircase hoping the marble would break under his very feet. Oh God, he felt that braking something would make him feel better at that moment, whether it was the marble or his foot breaking, he didn't really mind, he just need something to vent his frustration onto.

'Buttocks' shouted Harry angrily and the portrait of the Fat lady swung open to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Ron had told him the new password which made him laugh and Hermione scowl, apparently Dumbledore wanted something a bit less magical of a password and decided on something that he thought of comical and so did Ron, but if 'Buttocks' was the Gryffindor password he dared think what Slytherin's was. The common room looked the total opposite to what Harry was feeling, the warm red had a duty of being comforting but it was failing it's task with Harry and the fire cackled merrily which only made Harry feel worse.

Harry stomped off to the sixth year boys dormitory not wanting to take advantage of the empty common room. Red-hot was what Harry was feeling, red hot with anger, ire, rage and fury. All full of anguish, Harry searched around the dormitory for something turgid and hard, he found his trunk, yes, that would be good enough, he started kicking it with all his might not caring if he couldn't walk the next morning.

Over and over again he kept kicking his trunk, there was an indenture in it but he kept on kicking it, his foot kicked it so many times it didn't hurt anymore but he kept on going, all of his anger and resentment which had built up over the summer even if he spent it at the burrow was shoved into his foot with every kick he threw at the trunk, every feeling he had about Sirius's death, about the letters of stupid sympathy, about Ron and Hermione's annoying bickering… about Ginny.

It did not however do anything to make him feel any better but he kept on doing it, he didn't need a reason not to injure himself. Harry only stopped when Ron came into the dormitory, full of adrenaline, Harry felt no pain whilst he walked to his bed and flopped on it dreaming of beating up Max Sandwich until he had no bones unbroken.

_Authors Note: I hope I didn't go over b0oard with the anger bit, anyway… hope you liked it, please read and review here are my notes,_

_Miraboo: always a pleasure reading your reviews, I accept your criticism but remember I am not that very experienced with writing romances, but there is a plan._

_Vampire: I am so sorry that I didn't write a note for you in my last chapter, I didn't see your review before I posted it up, I am glad that you want to read on._

_Melvianna G.C: Thank you so much for your review, sometimes I wonder if your being scarcastic but reading you review was very uplifting._

****

_My eyes are dying: you intrigue me, my friend called me on the telephone and she said your exact same suggestion, you remind me of people who go slightly mad and hyper sometimes and listen to a lot of metal music, but that must be all in my head, I've never seen you, thank you for your review and I am glad that you read my fic._

_Sabah: thank you very much for your review, I don't think I can be compared to JKRowling, but thank you for the comment._

_ABG: good to know your hooked…hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters._

_Googleoogle: thank you for your wonderful... but short review._

_There is one really good default chapter (so you won't have to keep waiting for updates) called Heard by other ears, try reading it, I think you'll find it very interesting and emotional._


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I own nothing… you know the rest._

_Author's note: Sorry about the mix up with chapter 4, I still don't know everything about that, but anyway. For those of you who are intrigued by little Aimi, you will here more from the girl. Chapter 5 is here, thank you for all of your reviews and please review this chapter, Thanks to my sister again who helped me proof read it. This chapter is dedicated to my friend Aimi (yes I borrowed her name for a character) as I didn't see her at my last friend gathering" and I might not see her for quite a while…so this is for you Aimi!_

Chapter 5

Indeed the next morning Harry's foot hurt so much he couldn't even limp.

'Harry what did you do to your foot?' cried Hermione worriedly in the common,

'Banged against my trunk' mumbled Harry.

'Oh that is the most pathetic lie I have heard' Harry said nothing. 'Well go to madam Promfrey I am sure she'll sort it out'

'I can't walk to the hospital wing' mumbled Harry again. 'Can't you just do something to it?' asked Harry

'Ok, but it won't be as good as Madam Promfrey she's got more experience in this than me' she performed the spell and Harry's leg was as good as yesterday morning.

'Oi, look at this' shouted Ron from across the Common room.

'What?' asked Harry.

'There's a notice here, says we gotta go to McGonagall's classroom after breakfast'

'We've only been at Hogwarts for twelve hours, we couldn't have done anything wrong' said Harry earnestly.

'I don't think it's anything to do with getting into trouble' said Hermione wisely then her mood changed drastically as a thought flew at her face, 'it might be our results' she said happily, gloom spread its self over Harry and Ron's face, much as it did at the Burrow.

Harry, Ron and Hermione met all of the other sixth years in the transfiguration class, McGonagall was at the head of the classroom, looking as formidable as ever, every one else was looking either very frightened or very excited most of the sixth years present just had facial expressions of pure anxiety.

'As you were all notified during the summer you could not receive your O.W.L results as there were certain technicalities. I have them now and you will receive them… now.'

'Yes' whispered Hermione, the two boys turned to face her with only the utmost annoyance on their faces. McGonagall came around circling everyone like a hawk. She passed everyone a yellowish envelope and each had a red seal. Harry received his and like in the Burrow, with shaking hands. Harry took a deep breath shut his eyes and opened the envelope; he opened his eyes feeling very tired all of a sudden.

He read over the list of results and breathed out a sigh of relief, he was content with his results, some of them surprised him, some of them didn't and some of them were just a plain fail such 'History of Magic---T' but Harry wasn't upset, he was happy that he got the grades he needed four the four newt classes which McGonagall had advised in his Career advice session last year and as he got a good grade for 'Care of magical Creatures' he decided to take that subject as his fifth Newt, which was the minimum to be accepted into Auror training, and as Harry had no idea what he wanted to do after Hogwarts he thought that he might as well do that.

'Well thank god that is over' breathed Ron.

'Yeah' agreed Harry.

'Oh, but your forgetting' started Hermione' Harry and Ron now looked positively mournful.

'Yes Hermione' said Ron in a voice of forced calm.

'We have to do modules at the end of this year and get those results next year, so we are far from getting over results.' at this Ron and Harry slumped in their chairs any sign of relief flickered away from their faces, but Hermione was still beaming. As everyone opened their letter there was a moment of silence but that was closely followed by animated conversation but Harry noticed a few girls were on the verge of tears and some boys had very solemn faces but most were cheerful and relieved.

'You are dismissed' said McGonagall in slightly a less formidable tone than in the beginning of the meeting.

'Right well, my first lesson is Arithmancy what's yours?' asked Hermione as the three of them left the transfiguration class.

'We have Care of magical creatures' said Ron, glancing at his timetable which McGonagall told them to pick up before leaving the class.

'Well, I'll see you in the common room after lesson,' said Hermione and with a turn of bushy brown hair, she was gone.

Within five minutes the two boys were at Hagrid's cabin ready for their first newt lesson. Unfortunately and surprisingly Malfoy and his thick headed cronies attended this lesson as well, Harry and Ron thought they would have dropped it.

'Right, today we are goin' ta study Mackled Malaclaws' said Hagrid excitedly once everyone was present and registered.

'A what?' said Malfoy rudely and slowly as though talking to a really stupid person.

'A Mackled Malaclaw' repeated Hagrid 'can anyone tell me about these creatures?' asked Hagrid promptly. There was a long silence. 'Well seeing as you all o'viously didn't read you books, I'll tell you, a Mackled Malaclaw is this' said Hagrid and he brought out what looked like a lobster though green in colour.

'And that is supposed to tells us loads I suppose' drawled Malfoy, Hagrid just frowned at him.

'These live on land, one thing you never do with a Mackled Malaclaw is eat them, never do that! Cause if ya do I can guarantee ya you will be very sick and ya might as well get a very nasty green um… rash.'

Ron snorted beside Harry, but thankfully didn't gather any attention from the rest of the class.

'Now can anyone tell me  what can happen if you get bitten by one of these?' asked Hagrid to the class. There was no answer and a long silence.

'Right didn't think so, if you get bitten by a Malaclaw you might be very unlucky for about a week, but this is a different type of species of the Mackled Malaclaw' and Hagrid paused for a while, enjoying everyone's rare looks of interest. 'Do ya notice the green colour of its skin? Yeah? Well this is a darker colour of green than usual Malaclaws so that means that if you get bitten by this type of Malaclaw you will be unlucky dependin' on the deepness of the bite, so be very careful with them okay, right Parvati, you take this one, Ron take this one…' and Hagrid started handing out the lobster like creature to students individually, supplying snippets of advice in the meantime, 'be very careful and gentle with them other wise you might scare them'

'There kinda cool these things innit?' said Ron genially to Harry,

'Yeah, wouldn't like to be bitten by one though we got the Quidditch match coming up.'

'Oh yeah! When is that again? I didn't read the notice in the common this morning'

'I think it's in the end of October somewhere' said Harry, there was a pause and Ron seemed to be thinking of something because signs of frustration were all over his face.

'Um... Harry… d'you mind if I ask you a question?' asked a slightly frightened Ron. Harry hesitated wondering what on earth Ron wanted to ask him.

'S…s…sure' Harry stammered.

'You know in the summer…'

'Yeah'

'Well I think that I saw you do something and I am not sure about any of this so…' Ron paused not quite sure how he was going to put his words into an understandable sentence, he murmured very quietly to Harry so that only he could here him, 'did you um… goggle at my sister?' Harry started immediately to blush, he really didn't want to answer that question, he really didn't want to at all.

At that moment Harry wished beyond anything on earth that a distraction would come so that he didn't have to answer that question, then suddenly something in the pocket of his trousers glowed warmly and there was a strangled cry heard from somewhere to his right, he flicked his head to look at who caused the cry and then realised with amusement that Malfoy had been bitten by the Mackled Malaclaw and Hagrid was rushing over to him.

'Look's like you gotta go to Madam Promfrey to get that sorted out, Oi you.. Goyle, go with him to the hospital wing.' Ordered Hagrid.

Once Malfoy left the class complaining loudly about how his father would deal with this, Harry, Ron and the rest of the class except for the few Slytherin's burst out laughing, and thankfully Ron seemed to forget about his question owing to the excellently timed distraction.

Hagrid had been merciless with assigning homework, apparently he was rather offended about not one single person bothering to have a look at the books chose, so he decided to make everyone read three bulky chapters of the text book, and the pupils could not escape it as Hagrid said he would be testing them and if the failed they would get points deducted, Harry knew he was trying to get some discipline as a teacher but bloody hell…

'What is he playing at!' said Ron in exasperation.

'He's just trying to be a good teacher' said Hermione soothingly as the trio were spending their free double lesson in the common room (sixth and seventh years got to have free sessions)

'Yeah but Hagrid doesn't give us boring homework on the first day!' said Ron even more exasperatedly as Hermione had already started her arithmency homework.

'Look we better get a move on other wise we'll be late for Defense against the dark arts and we didn't get to see the new teacher at the feast, remember?'

'Oh yeah' said Harry, musing. Hermione snapped her books and placed her ink quill, books and parchment carefully into her bag then slung it all over her shoulder. Ron juts stuffed anything he took out of his bag (which wasn't a lot) back into his bag. Harry put his firebolt back in his dormitory as he was flying with it earlier to think, (about certain things), he noticed that one of his books was lying on the floor, without thinking he flung it into his untidy trunk with his firebolt.

Once all of them were ready they made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, the door was open and there was some Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students already inside, sitting on the tables and bags sprawled on top of them. Harry, Ron and Hermione found three seats somewhere in the middle of the classroom and waited for the teacher to come, it wasn't long until a figure approximately five-foot five in height strolled into the classroom wearing a dark blue hooded cloak. It was then that the class noticed that the teacher had entered, they scrambled to sit on their seats and took their bags off of the tables and slumped them onto the floor.

The professor, unhooded the cloak which revealed a very pretty face, it was a woman, she took off the cloak and was wearing plain white robes, her brown very long hair was braided all the way to the tips and tied by a single plain black band making it look longer than three feet. She looked very young, probably about mid twenties and had an air of innocence in her manner but there was also something teenage like, something connective between her and her pupils which was seemed to be taken on board quite satisfactorily by all of the Hogwarts students.

'Harry… she's that woman from the Leaky Cauldron' whispered Ron in amazement, Harry could see he was trying to work down a blush.

She smiled at the class making her look even more pretty and making some of the boys in the class drool.

'My second class' she said, 'welcome, I am so sorry that I am late, promise it won't happen again, I was in Hogsmede, had to buy something. Anyway…' she turned her face from the class and grabbed a chalk and wrote her name on the black board neatly and clearly, 'my name is Professor Sarah Bendlow, but it's either Professor, or Professor Bendlow to you lot' she said kindly. And she turned to face the class again, 'Have you all got your textbooks, because if you don't I have a few spares' all the girls nodded but the boys sat stationary. 'Good, lets get started then'

Instead of telling everyone to open their books to a certain chapter, she walked towards the back of the class holding her wand and opened a wardrobe causing her braided her to flick and swing behind her, resulting in some students turning their heads to the back of the class, still drooling. A few moments later she was in the front of the class again but with a bunch of red pillows and cushions.

'What we are going to do today is just practicing with the mobilizing and levitating charms, if you all want to consider Defense against the Dark arts for you furyre, I can tell you now that the mobilizing charms are extremely useful to receive objects in stealth or in secret and if you ask any auror I am sure they will tell you that they find it very useful. I am sure Professor Flitwick taught you these spells long, long ago and I know what your thinking, "we learnt that in third year" but I am going to tell you a different kind of charm that will let you control whatever you are levitating, to stop and start, turn and fly at your word.' Many pupils looked either excited or just confused, probably because _some_ pupils weren't paying their full attention. 'Now everyone I am going to need your help, I want a very big space in the center of the class, yes, yes that's right, good. Now let me tell you the plan… we are all going to have a massive pillow fight' there were looks of delight 'firstly without magic and then with magic, okay, now… the spell is called the controller charm and the incantation is _Lomoblier contrale, _could everyone just say that without their wands, so they know it please' only half the class said the incantation clearly, some just mumbled and some said nothing at all. 'Boys I am surprised, believe me these girls know the incantation and I have a hunch that they can cause some serious damage, so if you don't want to get hurt I'd advise you to pay attention' and this time the boys did listen, 'now to control your cushion or pillow you have to firstly say the incantation then say "go left", or " go right" or whatever okay?' and the class nodded some girls were laughing,' You can even say go 120 degree anticlockwise, and it'll do that, right… any questions so far?' Professor Bendlow asked kindly, a girl with blonde hair raised her hand.

'Yes?' asked the professor,

'Do we have to say the incantation all the time or only once'

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that, you only say it once and then can have as many commands as you like, any more questions?'

Another girl with glasses and dark red hair raised her hand gingerly.

'Yes dear?' said the teacher sensitively, sensing the girl's discomfort.

'Can we control the speed of our cushion?'

'Right, I was about to get to that part, you can but this spell has speed units of it's own so you have to get the unit right, there are three I'll tell you about and maybe throughout the year I'll teach some of the others' she took a breath, 'the basic speeds are called "_Killers"_, you have either one Killer or two killers or three killers, then you have the _KO_'s, their measures go on and on, where as the killer are only up to three. Then you have the _Ane_, they also go on and on but I forbid anyone to use Ane 4 or more because that's the equivalent speed of a bludger, these cushions won't hurt you but they may make you move towards something that will. Okay… any questions?' the same blonde girl put her hand up.

'What does _KO_'s and _Ane_ stand for Professor' she asked interestedly, 'Good question can anyone answer her?' and naturally Hermione shot her hand up so fast she hit Ron.

'Oh sorry Ron' whispered Hermione.

'Yes?' said the Professor.

'The _KO_'s stand for _knock outs_ and the _Ane_'s stand for _Anesthesia_' said Hermione promptly, through her professional tone of voice any one could see that she was, like the rest of the class, excited about the upcoming task,

'Very good Miss… er... I'm sorry I didn't take the register; I don't usually bother about those things'

'Miss Granger' said Hermione.

'Oh so you're Hermione Granger, oh…I've heard about you,' Harry cast her a side ways glance and saw that she was pink in the face

'Well anyway are there any more questions?' there was a pause 'Nope? Good, now I want the girls on one side of the room, yes good, good and the boys on the other but before you move…' she said once everyone started to scramble, 'I want everyone of you to get a cushion from the front of the classroom.' Everyone scraped around the classroom pushing each other to reach the front and there was a lot of talking, especially among the boys, once everyone was in position and everyone possessed a cushion, Professor Bendlow started instructing, while she placed herself with the girls,

'Right then first without magic and when I blow my whistle with, so we can see the difference and efficiency, okay, right ready and…'

'But professor' said one of the boys, embarrassed.

'Yes?' Professor Bendlow asked.

'It's not fair if they have more people than us'

'So? Are you saying I can't join them?' asked the professor in a fake offended way.

'No, but the odds are against us then' his argument went from a confident voice to a slight squeak.

'Yeah, but I don't care, so if you lot want to win, you'd better keep on your toes. Now everyone ready!' and she blew the whistle. There was an instant uproar as everyone's excitement burst like water from a dam. Pillows were being thrown everywhere and a lot of laughing and screaming followed this, all of the chaos and commotion carried on for about fifteen minutes, until Professor Bendlow blew her whistle out of exhaustion, she was panting and out of breath just like everyone else.

'Right… s'cuse me, oh God that was really tiring, anyway, now can anyone tell me if they noticed that that was very tiring?' the whole class nodded, some of them chuckled, 'this time I think I better put a silencing charm on the door, I think we were kinda loud, we might be disturbing other lessons, y'see Proffessor McGonagall never did take a liking to my style of fun. Okay, now this time with magic, so can anyone remember the incantation' and immediately Hermione's hand shot up from the sea of pupils,

'Yes Miss Granger?'

'It's _Lomoblier contrale_' said Hermione who was also panting.

'Very good, now on my whistle say the incantation and do whatever command you want, right, wands at the ready…' and she blew her whistle, just like the first time there was instant uproar, but the cushions seemed to have minds of their own, there was always a flash of red or yellow flying past Harry and quite a few times he got hit, by varying strengths.

Hermione's cushion seemed to want to attack Ron a lot, it kept changing direction quickly and sharply so Ron was confused a lot of the time and got hit quite a lot.

Harry was attacked by everyone, but everyone was attacked by everyone, the boys seemed to get a bit dazed because they started hitting each other towards the end, the girls seemed to be in control but also had to dodge a few cushions but they weren't hit as many times as the boys. Harry was having a really good time; he didn't enjoy a Defense against the dark arts lesson like this scince Lupin taught them. After about half an hour Proffessor Bendlow blew her whistle much to the classes' disappointment.

'All right everyone, we have about twenty minutes to put the tables back, then the bell will ring and we better be ready so you can get out, I don't want to keep you in here on your break, well that was what I remember from my own Hogwarts days, so come on hurry up, lets get this sorted' and then there was a second scrambling to get all of the chairs and tables into it's original state. Even though they were all rushing as if there was only half a minute left, they finished before the bell rang.

'Well I hope you enjoyed that lesson, I know that I did, well, seeing as the bell hasn't rang yet, you can leave early.' She said kindly.

There were cries of 'Goodbye Proffessor' and she would say 'Goodbye' back to every single individual. She seemed to be very popular, especially with the boys and the girls seemed to find her like an older sister. Professor Bendlow was very much at the center of conversation throughout all students at Hogwarts, during lunch you could hear the buzz of students talking and chatting animatedly about professor Bendlow, her name could be heard within every group of people Harry past, and in the Great Hall while Professor Bendlow walked up to the staff table from between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables a lot of heads flicked towards her direction, her braided hair swinging behind her did result in some eyes being caught. Even through Charms class that afternoon, Professor Bendlow and her lesson was the only subject talked and thought about.

Harry had a pleasant and joyful first day, apart from the trunk in his dormitory which seemed to be getting increasingly messier everytime he went to his dormitory. Although he did have a lot of homework even if it was only from Hagrid and Flitwick, a lot of thoughts made him feel better, like how the report came out at lunch time that Malfoy will be unlucky for a period of three months as he got bitten three times, which meant that Slytherin will most likely lose the Quidditch match.

Harry wondered what Professor Bendlow taught the fifth years that day, he wondered how Ginny would react to a pillow fight for a lesson, probably viciously, just like that mud fight they all had at the burrow when he arrived, he quite liked that mud fight, and he quite liked those Quidditch games, he quite liked Ginny… WHAT! Where did that come from? He didn't know, all right time for a straight-forward question… 'Do I like Ginny?' thought Harry, he felt deep down that he was denying it all the time, every second of every minute of every hour of every day, but even deeper down he knew that… well… he guessed he probably… maybe…  just maybe he did like her. Phew… that's out, 'so what am I supposed to do now?' he thought in frustration, it was like he was rooted to one spot as a thought just walked into his head, he would have to tell Ginny, WHAT! Why should he do that? Where will that get him? Maybe… maybe… just maybe…

_Author's Note: I felt really guilty about the OWL results thing, because I felt that I was entering to far into the domain of JKR and that is **not** my place, besides I don't know what the results will be, only JKR knows that and I am in position for insinuating anything.  Thank you again for your reviews, here is my notes._

_HG: thanks for reviewing and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the chapter (sorry about the mix up)_

_Fatadder: Sorry about the mix up, I totally agree with you about turning the characters American, but I like to laugh at those fan fic's but praise be to their author's for doing such a thing, quite a brave thing to do in my opinion._

_Mira boo: glad you like my chapter especially Aimi. Keep reading and keep reviewing (I am running out of things to say)_

_Melvianna: Hey thanks for your review I am really glad that you think my fan fic is good, it touches my heart, I don't mind if your hyper as long as you don't embarrass yourself. (it relieves me to know you're not being sarcastic) _

_My eyes are dying: how do you know I was talking about my friend? Strange… isn't it?_

_flyAWAY: Hey Noono! You can only judge the books if you read them other wise I won't take of any of your words seriously, but thanks for the review! I really appreciate it._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Can you guess the rest?_

_Author's note: thank you for all your reviews, I am really enjoying this fan fic, I think that I will probably go in hiding after this chapter many of you will probably want to kill me. This chapter is dedicated to my friend Mona, who I hope will enjoy this chapter just because she is purely a nice girl. Any way thanks a million to my sister for helping me proof read this…again, I probably wouldn't have done this fan fic were it not for her. Well enjoy…_

Chapter 6

Harry was completely bombarded by homework for the past couple of months, life at Hogwarts was getting even more upside down than usual, the teachers didn't seem to care whether their students could manage all of the heavy work they had to do. Even Proffessor Bendlow, who half the school seemed to have a crush on gave them homework, however she seemed to bargain with them. Their Defense against the Dark Arts teacher listened to all of their complaining and understood that they needed to have a bit of a break, so she gave them less homework but she told them they would have to work harder in lessons.

Before Harry new it September had turned into a wilting October and not only was Halloween approaching but the Quidditch match was as well. Katie Bell had been made Quidditch captain and her attitude to winning the cup was more or less along the same lines as obsessive Oliver wood. She had the determination of Angelina Johnson and the power of Fred and George's bludgers, so being a little bit more lenient with Quidditch practices were out of the question for the team. 

Harry was putting on a dismally optimistic attitude on trying to finish his homework, the transfiguration essay which was due for the next day was lying half done on a shattered table, the Potions essay on ingredients for healing properties in a potion was lying on the table untouched, and Harry was trying to master a speeding spell for Charms and an itching spell for Defense Against the Dark Arts at the same time. 

'Hey' said a soft voice beside Harry which made him jump slightly, he turned to look at his right and found Ginny looking at him apprehensively.

'Hi, didn't see you there' said Harry awkwardly.

'How could you? I was having a huge fight with Katie Bell over tactics'. Ginny had joined the team as a chaser just as she had said she would last year.

'Well I am kinda busy, as you can see' Harry said depressingly, gesturing to the almost collapsing table.

'Well can I do anything to help?' asked Ginny, 'I've finished my homework, sort'a why I was fighting with Katie, however I find it against my will of kindness to leave you with all of this crap' she said the last bit aristocratically,

'You don't have to do anything' said Harry earnestly.

'Oh, come on, here, look, I'll just finish this Transfiguration for you'

'No, no… give that back!' said Harry half annoyed and half amused as she took his parchment.

'Fine' said Ginny matter of factly, instead of giving it back to him she stood up from the table curtly and went over to the cackling fire, 'if you won't let me do the essay you won't have an essay' she said firmly, the fire was blazing, her hair was blazing, oh no, Harry was falling into a stupor…again, the fire's light were reflecting off her hair, making the different shades of red vivid and clear, making Harry stare at her. Ginny had a fixed stare, her eyes were shining with the red fire's light making her look majestic, ethereal and mysterious which was Ginny, something fairy like, gentle and gracious but fiery and powerful. The corners of her mouth was itching to creep into a smile and Harry had to catch himself from his day dream which was something he was very used to doing for the past four months.

'Well? What's it gonna be?' said Ginny impatiently.

'Um…' said Harry, shaking his head slightly, forgetting the situation, 'alright, alright, you can do the bloody thing if you want to'

'Great!' and she sat down next to Harry for the next forty-five minutes doing his homework. Harry was finding it increasingly difficult to stay focused on his work, as he kept sneaking glances at Ginny. At the end he just wrote a few lines and that was an introduction copied out from a textbook for his potions essay.

'Oh dear,' said Ginny 'You haven't done much have you?'

'No' said Harry quietly, not wanting to escalate the subject lest it lead to questions he did not want to answer.

'Well let me do that, then you can practice those spells' she said firmly again. All the time Ginny was sitting down next to him and Harry was debating with himself whether he should tell her now. Half an hour passed by and Harry said nothing to her, his heart was beginning to race as he met a conclusion, adrenaline was pumping through his veins, his eyes looked up from the table and onto Ginny for the upteenth time, he opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out and Ginny didn't notice that he had moved at all. Five minutes in this position Harry tried again with enormous effort to say something and instead a croaking, hoarse sound came out, this got Ginny's attention.

'Did you say something?' she asked nonchalantly.

'Um… no…no' said Harry, still in a croaky voice.

'I finished this so, you should be okay'

'Thanks' said Harry quietly not wanting to be heard with his hoarse voice. He was really touched by her act of kindness, she, who had better things to do than Harry's homework, waste her time helping him, she must have been made of something much more than just human flesh, he needed to tell her, this was the perfect moment, the common was nearly empty and no one could hear them, he needed to tell her…now. Harry opened his mouth again to say something.

'Well, it's really late, goodnight Harry' and she trumped up the girl's staircase to her dormitory. Harry shut his mouth, feeling utterly stupid and shameful for acting so cowardly.

There was only one week left until the first Quidditch match of the season and it was the traditional Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, Katie bell was making them work much harder which was saying something as they were having three practices a week, but Harry looked forward to those Quidditch matches as it was a time to see Ginny. She seemed to be disappearing around Hogwarts, Harry hadn't been around her much scince they left the Burrow, he was very busy with homework and that helped to keep his mind of things but he had this sort of feeling that he should be around her, as though a guardian for her, not that she didn't have enough of them (with six older brothers, including one who didn't care about her… Percy).

Subtle and normal things of daily routine at Hogwarts melted away into tension as the anticipated Quidditch match approached. Harry was pleased to notice that Malfoy was looking very apprehensive lately, as his "highly unlucky" duration was not yet over.

People that Harry new were changing drastically and he guessed that it had something to do with the Quidditch match, like when Ron was more jumpy and twitchy when ever he would pass a group or single Slytherin in the corridors, or when Colin Creevy was looking very somber and checking over his shoulder as if someone was about to attack him. Or when Harry spotted Aimi Spencer in one of the small corridors on the verge of tears. Harry obviously asked her why she looked so frightened and she stood quiet for a while but in the end she confessed to Harry through a shaking voice and trembling lips that some Slytherins didn't like her very much, being a Gryffindor, she had made immediate enemy's and they seemed to be taking their toll as the Quidditch game loomed by. Harry had a serious reaction to this, ever since he helped her in the Hogwarts express he always felt a sense of obligation towards her and felt that it was necessary that he would take care of her as though she was his little sister. Harry clearly stated that he would deal with those people harming Aimi, however she resolutely persisted that he must not do anything, even though it was against Harry's opinion and will, he had to agree to her wishes, but he did commit himself to her that day and he felt a lot more…whole, as though there were pieces in his life that needed to be fit in place and he had already possessed one.

All too soon, Harry's homework was piled to mountain height again, the Gryffindor points were decreasing drastically (thanks to the potions master who aided that very successfully) and the Quidditch match, after much waiting, arrived. That morning Harry forced himself to eat something and he didn't even know what he stuffed into his mouth, Ron was just staring unblinkingly at the table, Harry could guess what was running through his mind. He had a shrewd idea that Ron was very nervous about which turn his skills would take that day, he had been practicing hard but his confidence was still very shaky. Ginny too was not eating anything but she was trying to comfort Ron who was beyond the state of nerves and was in a plane which seemed to be much much worse than anxiety and to top it all off, Katie bell seemed more determined and tenacious than usual.

'You have to eat something Ron!' she practically screamed at him, he didn't say anything in return. 'Harry, you've eaten, haven't you?' she snapped. And Harry just had the chance to nod until she got up from the table and rushed to the end, where the new chaser Natalie McDonald (a third year) and the beaters were sitting, so she could press her irritation at.

'Well we better get to the changing rooms other wise we might never get there' said Ginny, 'Ron, Ron we need to get to the changing rooms' but Ron said nothing and continued to stare at the table his face screwed up in concentration as though trying to see through the solid wood. 'Uh… Harry can you help me, I think we'll need to hoist him up or something' said Ginny rather worriedly, and they both grabbed one arm of Ron and hoisted him up, he seemed to fall out of his stupor then.

'Good luck' called Hermione from the table.

'Thanks Hermione' said Harry. The three of them walked up to the door of the great hall and Harry notice that about three Slytherin's were hunched up together at the Slytherin table and Malfoy was one of them. Another Slytherin now joined the three and Harry had a large sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach, there was definitely something bad going to happen.

As Harry was throwing on his Quidditch robes he noticed that the misty stone that was the present that Lupin gave him was in his pocket, he searched his memory for when he put it there and couldn't remember anything, so he put it at the top of his locker behind his unfolded jumper at the top, to avoid it being broken.

In the changing rooms, Katie bell gave a short prep talk and she was rather poignantly profound, her words actually sunk into Harry's numb head and stirred a reaction within him.

Before Harry new it he mounted his broom with shaking hands and kicked hard off from the ground, almost immediately his nerves were left on the ground and what was only left was his love for flying, he zoomed around the pitch once and flew higher to have the sense of an ever watchful bird. Owen Cauldwell, a third year Hufflepuff, was the new commentator this year, and his loud and excited voice rang in Harry's ears.

'Here come the Gryffindor team, captain Bell, Weasley, Weasley, McDonald, Sloper, Kirke, and Potter!' there was a gale of cheers from the crowds and a gust of boos coming from the Slytherin goal posts. Harry saw Ron fly towards the goal posts with surprisingly slightly more confidence than he had shown in the great hall…at least he was blinking now. Harry took his place while the Slytherin team arrived; he caught sight of Ginny who was looking as if she was holding back a mountain of energy, which was about to burst in an explosion.

Malfoy on the other hand was looking as if he owned the pitch as usual however there was a glimmer of doubt in his cold gray eyes. They said nothing to each other just stared with maximum loathing.

'The quaffel is released and we're off!' There was a dangerous battle with the chasers once the whistle was blown and immediately Harry zoomed off around the pitch in search of the snitch, he couldn't get to see very well, even though it wasn't raining, the October clouds were thick, heavy and depressing, and without much clear light Harry couldn't distinguish gold from silver so there was a bit of confusion, Ron's anxiety seemed to get the better of him and there was a whiff of _'Weasley is our king'_ from the crowd, Ron had missed three goals but then he wore a very determined face and started to save, this brought his confidence back, the Gryffindor chasers were putting on a really good show, the three girls were using every tactic they knew and it got the team seventy points.

The score was 70:30 to Gryffindor and that was when Slytherin decided to turn nasty. One of the Beaters hit Katie accidentally on purpose with his bat and a Slytherin chaser nicked the Quaffel from her arms at the same time that she got hit by the bat. One of the Slytherin chasers noticed that Ginny was about to catch the Quaffel from Natalie McDonald so the chaser flew towards Ginny, grabbed her hair viciously and pulled her back, that earned Gryffindor a penalty and Ginny took it, she had obviously won it but still shook with anger, and so did Harry, he felt hot anger course through him, he was about to knock that chaser of their broom until they fall into an oblivion.

The discreet discussion that Harry saw in the great hall was revealed, twenty minutes into the game there were red beams shooting at the game from the Slytherin end of the pitch, Harry missed a few, Sloper got hit and a gash at his arm was the result, Natalie got hit at her face and blood splattered her scarlet robes, another one of the red beams jumped like lightning at Harry but he zoomed up into the air and the spell hit Malfoy instead who was tailing him closely, he looked livid.

There were so many risks, gambles and cheating that by half way through the match Katie Bell was in hysterics, screaming at anyone within a five-meter radius and nearly hurting Natalie when she missed a goal.

As the Slytherins carried on their tactics of cheating, Malfoy lived up to the name of being the unluckiest person ever to ride a broom. Twice the snitch was zooming towards him and twice Malfoy wasn't looking the right way and twice the snitch bounced off his head. As one of the Beaters were trying to cheat again as they swung their bat at Natalie, Harry was trying to warn her and she took the hint and ducked resulting in Malfoy being hit square in the eye with the bat. Madam Hooch seemed sick of the Slytherin's cheating so she thankfully acted as though she didn't notice and left Malfoy with a black eye.

After half an hour the two teams were becoming bloodthirsty and Harry was becoming increasingly tired of trying to catch the snitch, until he caught a flash of gold from his peripheral vision, he thought he was imagining it and then noticed something with wings fluttering gracefully at Ginny's left cheek, she was watching vigilantly at the goal posts as Ron nearly missed.

Harry hesitated, but then he found out that Malfoy had noticed the snitch as well, he was flying towards Ginny, Harry had no choice, he flew towards Ginny she turned her head still not noticing the snitch, she gasped and her eyes went round with shock Harry reluctantly extended his arm just as Malfoy was reaching towards his goal, Ginny was rooted to her spot and couldn't move. Malfoy was one foot away when Harry caught the snitch and realization dawned on Ginny's face, Malfoy couldn't stop himself and the speed of his broom couldn't stop and he ended up toppling over and falling onto the ground however Proffessor McGonagall had her wits about her as usual and conjured a floating stretcher just below Malfoy however magically Malfoy missed the stretcher and fell on his back on the ground right beside the stretcher.

Ginny gave a sigh of relief as Harry backed away from her.

'Potter's got the Snitch!' screamed the commentator and there was a huge force as sound hit Harry and nearly made him fall. The team touched down on the welcoming green grass Ron patted his back and the rest of the Gryffindor house came down onto the pitch from the stands and swamped the scarlet team with congratulations and cheers. S the team were back in the changing rooms, Harry noticed that his jumper was lying on the floor, but everything else was normal.

There was a party fit for a king that night in the common room. Colin Creevy and his brother Dennis had volunteered enthusiastically to go down to the kitchens and steal food. When they returned back to the common their heads could not be seen as they were carrying so much food they could barely walk, there were custard creams and pumpkin juice and even a whole roasted turkey. The entire Gryffindor house was happy, even Aimi Spencer who always looked nervous was laughing with her friends Parvati Patil was giggling with lavender brown like normal. Harry was taking a swig from his butterbeer and casting a glance at Ginny, when Hermione whispered to him.

'Harry what are you going to do about this?'

'About what?' asked Harry.

'About staring at Ginny all the time, you can just admit that you like her and move on with your life'

'I have'

'Have what?'

'Admitted it to myself'

'Really?' said Hermione astounded, she looked around.

'Ron's not anywhere near here… go… tell her' Harry's eyes widened like saucers

'What… no!'

'Come on, Harry, you'll have to tell her someday, this is a really good time and everyone's happy'

'No, no, no' said Harry shaking his head his eyes still wide.

'Look, Harry…did you ever consider that she might like you back?' this was news to Harry.

'She can't' said Harry shortly.

'Just go' and she pushed Harry forward, egging him on. He walked towards her, she was laughing and enjoying herself with her friends from her own year. Harry's mouth went dry…completely, his heart was racing and his feet seemed to be just carrying him to Ginny.

'Uh…' he said very shakily but thankfully his voice didn't crack.

'Yeah?' asked Ginny.

'Er… erm, c…c ' he couldn't take it any more and he just turned and walked away. He didn't think Ginny would've heard anything, as his voice was so low only a mouse wouldv'e known what he was stammering.

'What's gone into you?' snapped Hermione. 'Don't tell me it's that difficult to tell her one small thing'

'It might be easy for you Hermione but it's torture for me' said Harry rather annoyed.

'Just go and tell her now' she pushed him again, and again he dragged his feet to where Ginny was the road towards her seemed slightly eerie now, her friends were giggling and she was looking very annoyed. Harry's face was shiny with perspiration, he could feel heat radiating off of his face and he could feel a blush bursting from his face as well.

'Uh… erm…ahhh!' and yet again he turned from the girls and stormed back to Hermione she was now looking very irritated with him,

'Listen Harry this is for your own good, I am not going to rest until you tell Ginny!' For the third time that evening Hermione ushered him to Ginny and this time Harry was marinated in panic, he finally thought to himself that he would just get it over with so he would be finished with it, but his mind went completely blank as he reached Ginny, and this time she was looking very worried,

'Harry, are you alright?' Her friends rolled their eyes.

'Er…' what does he say? What does he say! 'Yeah' he said and most unfortunately his voice cracked.

'Sure' and Harry went out of the Portrait Hole and lead Ginny to and empty classroom, she seemed to take this as a normal thing, while Harry was racking his brain for how to put his words right. 

She sat on one of the tables and waited for him to say something. Harry was fixed there and he stood in silence for a few minutes until he had a grip on his senses.

'Well, erm… I wanted to tell you something' began Harry.

'I kinda got that already' said Ginny arching an eyebrow, this was not helping.

'Erm… scince the holiday, I've erm…'

'Yeah?' asked Ginny impatiently. Harry thought it best if he would just shut his eyes and spit it out.

'I like you… a lot' he said through a quavering voice, he spat it out but didn't shut his eyes and had to endure the discomfort of seeing her face turn into an extremely shocked expression. She seemed to have been stunned into silence, her mouth was hanging open and Harry had no idea how to act. He didn't know how long he stood there waiting for something he didn't know of to come. He just stood there, stood there like a statue. She did nothing, soon she closed her mouth and stared at the floor. She didn't seem to want to say anything, and it didn't look like she was going to say anything either.

Harry was, for some reason very, very frankly upset his face went pale and he suddenly felt very cold, this must have been the worst thing he had ever, ever done, he wished he had a time turner and could go back to an hour ago where he was happy that Gryffindor had won the game, that seemed like a decade ago, that seemed un important now, Harry was about to leave the empty, still classroom, when Ginny called out to him.

'Wait Harry,' her voice was hoarse from not saying anything for so long, Harry stopped, hope poured onto him, 'listen Harry, I have to be true to myself, so I am going to be doing something I didn't think that I ever would do, didn't think I ever needed to do… I used to like you, a lot, as well but I just… don't anymore… I am really, really sorry, Harry, I really am' said Ginny earnestly.

'It's okay' said Harry though he had to steady himself before his voice shook too vigorously.

'Your too good a friend to lose Harry, I hope we can still be…friends' she said slowly and saying the word _'friends'_ as though it were forbidden.

'Of course'

'Good' she said, but nothing was good, nothing at all, and Harry had the overwhelming need to just run out of the room and hide himself between the hangings of his four poster bed.

'Well bye, Harry' she said quietly, and she quiveringly walked to the door, opened it, cast Harry one last apologetic glance and left, leaving the door ajar. Harry thought that he ought to leave as well, but something was very inviting about the classroom, how it was dark, dusty, still and abandoned, it had been rejected and was never seen again. Harry just wanted to stay in this classroom; he had no idea how long he stayed there, by himself, thinking of nothing in particular. Just standing there.    

_Author's Note: I want to kill myself now, but I have been really looking forward to this chapter (because of the Quidditch). Any way here are my notes:_

_Mira boo: thank god you liked the chapter, Ron was the one who said it was good to have new blood on the team which my sister wanted to tell you but was too lazy to, pg. 203 Chapter 12, Ootp._

_Raiining: keep reading_

_Melvianna: very long review, hope you liked this chapter; I really didn't understand your last review at all, keep reading and enjoy._

_HgandRhrforever: nice name, thanks for your review and thanks for reading._


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: If anyone thought that the standard of this fan fic is at any height to be able to get the author of this fan fic sued, they must be a nutter, I own nothing, nothing I tell you, NOTHING!_

_Author's Note: Did you like my disclaimer? As usual I am going to dedicate this chapter to one of my friends this time it's going to be For Sabah, because I haven't seen her scince school and I miss her. Well I miss everybody from school actually. Sorry this took so long to post up, I was going places and seeing people, you know real life stuff. No thanks to my sister who did not help me proof read this, she deserves nothing, and you will see a definite increase in the standard of the writing (JOKE! Incase you did not get that which you probably didn't anyway). Please Read and Review, cause I really want to know what you think._

Chapter 7

Harry just stood there, he didn't really know what he was feeling, he was sort of numb. Harry trudged up to Gryffindor tower, as he mechanically walked a thought continually circled his mind, 'Aren't I over-reacting' he thought, but it felt too real to be an over reaction. He did not recognize where he was going, his eyes were half lidded and he was wearing a frown as though extremely cross with something.

It was about midnight when Harry reached the Gryffindor Common, it was empty, except for one person who was wearing a blue dressing gown and her hair was brown and bushy. Hermione had lines around her eyes from where she had screwed them up in anxiety for so long. There were fingernail marks all over her face.

'Well, uh… how did it go?' asked Hermione tentatively, she spoke in a barely audible whisper and even though Harry was standing six feet away from her, he heard every syllable. Harry didn't answer, he just stared at the floor in front of him. Not knowing how to speak.

'I…I saw Ginny' at this Harry tilted his head towards Hermione so quickly he cricked it. 

'Well...um…she…um…uh' stammered Hermione, Harry glared; his temper was rising swiftly and silently. Hermione seemed to understand this quite well because she stopped stammering and said quickly.

'Ginny told me that you said you like her'

'Yeah, so?' said Harry aggressively.

'Well, she told me that she said she didn't like you'

'Bingo!' said Harry angrily.

'Did she tell you anything else?' asked Hermione really quickly as though it wouldn't interrogate Harry or affect him in the slightest if she said it quickly.

'No' he said shortly but wondering what Hermione might tell him all the same.

'I don't think she wanted me to tell you but I think that you should know' Harry softened, he started feeling strangely anxious. 'Harry' she started 'Ginny likes someone else' Harry felt as though someone had just punched him in the face, he had to actually close his eyes for a few moments to stem this huge unknown current passing through him, he didn't know why but he felt a sort of sharp pain coming from the left side of his chest, as though someone was sticking a huge needle through his ribs. He wanted to say a million things, from anger to hurt to pain, but all he mumbled out was, 'Oh' and his voice was croaking. Hermione was looking at him anxiously, 'are you okay?' she asked quietly as though she was not quite sure if her question was rhetorical or not.

'I will be' said Harry more to himself than Hermione, he was now back to studying the floor, he glanced back at Hermione after a while to see her expression, she looked as though she was debating with herself on deciding on something, and then Harry acted before he could stop himself,

'Who does she like?' said Harry with dangerous politeness. It was Hermione's turn to stare at the floor now.

'Uh...I, I don't think I can tell you'

'Right' there was along pause. 'Has she been going out with this person at all?' asked Harry mechanically; not really wanting to know the answer but something was driving him to ask it.

'Actually, she has been erm, dating this person for about a month now' said Hermione, her tone was loaded with sympathy, this would've annoyed Harry, but he was too numb at the moment.

'Okay' said Harry and that was end of it, there was a painful, cold tension in the common room and Harry couldn't take it anymore, without saying another word to Hermione he went up to the sixth year boys dormitory and instead of flopping onto his bed and forcing himself to go to sleep he grabbed his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map, then he walked subconsciously down the stairs to the common room. Hermione opened her mouth to say something urgently but Harry had already put on the invisibility cloak and scrambled out of the portrait hole before she could utter a single syllable.

Harry didn't really know what he was doing he was too busy thinking, his feet took him to wherever they wanted to go, and he occasionally glanced at the marauder's map subconsciously just to make sure no one was coming his way, though, if there was someone walking towards him he probably wouldn't have noticed.

As the numbness ebbed away after about half an hour later, Harry thought that he was going over the top with this business, sure he liked Ginny but he couldn't do any thing about her dating someone else…right? Isn't that right? Of course it has to be right, if he could do something what could he do? Nothing…exactly.

'I have to stop this' he thought 'this is just getting bang out of order, why was…why am I so upset over this? Why should it bother me so much, I only like Ginny. Right? Yeah of course, this is just stupid.' But it wasn't.

All the way on his walk there was a little annoying voice at the back of his mind which questioned everything he thought of, he once stopped himself and asked the little voice whether one plus one was two or not and it still questioned his judgment. 'Right, so what are you going to do Potter?' Harry asked himself. 'I am, going to act normally, like nothing ever happened, just like everyday, Ginny said she wanted to be friends, so she'll act normally as well, nothing to be afraid of, everything will turn back to normal, and you'll never listen to Hermione ever again, no matter how clever she is. Okay, so what now? Get back to the common room' so he stopped and looked on the marauder's map to see where he was, but he wasn't on it, he turned over the page and found a tiny dot with his name scrawled neatly on top of it, but it was not only his dot on the map, there was a room right in front of Harry that contained countless of dots, they all moved irregularly and seemed not to care where it went, the dots kept banging into the walls and the door.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Harry walked carefully across the hall and looked to his left, he cast a glance down to the Marauders map and saw what he expected. The tiny dot labeled Harry Potter was directly opposite the many-dotted creature with no label, there was deep feeling of excitement mixed with anxiety that was spreading through him from the pit of his stomach Harry extended his arm to turn the door handle, it was obviously locked and a whispered _alohamora _had sorted that problem neatly. The door now open made a creaking sort of noise; Harry pushed the door a segment, but before he had a chance to look inside the room, the door suddenly slammed against its frame with a loud clang. The sound rang throughout the dark corridor. Harry looked down in panic at the map and was relieved to find that nothing had stirred anyone in the castle, except that the creature on the other side of the door had stopped moving, it was now sort of moving very slowly towards the door, as though being cautious.

Harry stepped back, panic now coursing through him agonizingly slowly. The door was still open, as Harry had unlocked it, hence the door had gracefully slithered open slightly, still obstructing the room from view but there was a strip of moonlight emitting from the open door, slowly and cautiously a spider-like leg with a lot of hard and spiky hair, slithered across the floor, it looked like it was exploring the stone floor at first with the pointed end of the leg groping at the cracks and dents of the paving.

All too suddenly the leg stopped searching the floor and stood silently, Harry didn't know how but thought that the leg had sensed his presence, this eeriness made Harry take another step backwards but then he instantly regretted his move as the leg seemed to be certain of Harry's company. Even though the leg had no eyes or face it looked upwards into Harry's direction or more accurately, his face, this made Harry's insides squirm. He stood very still; he did not move or even breathe, like a dog going to inspect you before it decides weather to bite you or not. But somehow the leg knew where he was as it slithered towards him, without a nose, it sniffed at him, it then paused, full of fear and panic the leg zoomed back into the room as quickly as possible without a moments hesitation.

This turn of events startled Harry and he had to take a few moments to register what had happened, usually unknown creatures were not afraid of Harry, he was usually inferior to them, but this leg thing just did not want to be any where near Harry. Harry hesitantly put his ear next to the door and could hear nothing; he looked down quickly at the map and saw that the dots were coming closer together, backing against the opposite wall, as though crouching.

Harry stepped back from the door, he just noticed that his heart was beating so fast it was likely to come out of his chest, he had cold sweat trickling down his face and strangely, his scar burnt a little. He stared at the door for a moment and wondered what to do. Should he go into the room? Or should he just go back to the common room. Harry opted for the latter and firstly briskly walked away from the corridor he then broke into a run and reached the snoring fat lady within five minutes. Harry had to actually bang his fist energetically on her portrait to wake her up.

'Wha…who?  What d'you want?' she yawned.

'Buttocks' panted Harry impatiently and the portrait hole appeared. The common room looked dimmer as the grate was full of glowing ambers. It then just occurred to Harry that he had been out of the common room for a very long time, he checked his wrist watch and found that the time was three o'clock, but he didn't care. Harry was too full of energy to care what the time was… he needed to tell somebody about that leg-thing! His first thought was Ron but he must be dead sleep now, Harry turned around to face the boys staircase, he then noticed a second thing that night, Hermione was sitting by herself, on one of the armchairs, half asleep and half dead with worry.

'Hermione!' Harry exclaimed. Her head snapped upright and her eyes were now as round as Dobby's.

'What Harry? What is it!' she screamed, obviously startled.

'What are you doing here?'

'Huh? Oh… yeah, I was really worried when you just ran out of the room' she said disapprovingly but her mind seemed to be still sleeping, 'so I waited for you to come back, you were gone for ages' Harry was about to retort but then what he had just seen flashed into his mind and he realized with more empathy that he had to tell someone and seeing as Hermione was around he didn't have to wake up Ron any more.

'Listen Hermione, I saw something really weird when I was walking around'

'Just wait a minute Harry, I can't talk to you when I can't see you'

'Oh… right' Harry had forgotten that he was still wearing the invisibility cloak; he ripped it off and launched into speech. 'I was walking around then there were dots on the map and then I opened the door then this leg thing came out then it went away from me and I don't know what happened and I don't know what to do!'

'What on earth are you talking about Harry?' said Hermione annoyed from his speed talk.

'There were these weird dots on the Marauders map, and they were on the same corridor as me. I went to the room and I could here loads of banging and stuff'

'And?' said Hermione eagerly but still sleepily.

'I opened the door cause it stopped moving, but then it shut again, but I unlocked it using magic so it was still open'

'Oh no' said Hermione under her breath.

'Yeah, the thing's leg sort of stuck out of the door, and I dunno but I think it could sense me, thing is, I didn't see it's face, and I don't think that the leg had a nose or eye' Hermione didn't say anything so Harry continued 'So when it sensed me it just zoomed back into the room and it shut the door and didn't make another sound.' he stopped, Hermione was now in deep thought. There was a few moments of silence and Harry was starting to wonder weather he should just go to the dormitories when suddenly Hermione said quietly from the armchair.

'Go to Dumbledore'

'What? It's three o'clock in the morning!'

'Dumbledore, will definetly want to know about this'

'Please, he probably already knows!'

'Just go to him! He will probably give you some answers' she persisted. And not wanting this to escalate into something nasty especially with a snappy Hermione, he proceeded to the portrait hole.

'Great, your going to disturb my sleep…. again.' said the fat lady angrily, Harry just ignored her and made his way to Dumbledore's office. When he reached it he remembered like all other times he tried to barge into the office that he didn't know the password, he stood there stupidly doing nothing and ironically wondering what to do.

'Uh' he muttered, then convincing himself that speaking into the darkness was not a stupid thing at all, he said. 'Um… sugar quill? Nosebleed nougats? Fainting fancies?' The stone gargoyle was as still as stone and Harry had to think about the Gryffindor common room password to try and help him with finding the head master's password. 'Buttocks? Bums? Broken noses?' and to his great surprise the Gargoyle sprang from it's spot to reveal the spiral staircase. 

Harry stepped towards the strong oak door, where he suspected Dumbledore slept in but no sooner had he thought this that Dumbledore himself appeared right in front of him.

'Hello' he said swiftly, not giving the faintest idea that he was tired.

'So what are you doing here, at this hour, Harry?'

'I came to tell you some thing.' Said Harry quietly, getting the feeling that he was being very irritating.

'What might that be?' asked Dumbledore.

'Um, I saw something today, well just now really' said Harry lamely.

'Come and take a seat.' Said Dumbledore invitingly, Harry obliged and took a seat in one of the squashy chintz chairs placed near Dumbledore's Table, they were just like the ones from the hearing. Dumbledore sat at his armchair, facing Harry. 'What did you see?'

'I was walking around the school…' he paused here wondering weather he would be in trouble now that the headmaster new he was out of bounds, but Dumbledore just continued to look at Harry with interest. 'I heard noises coming from one of the classrooms, and I opened the door and a sort of hairy leg stuck out of it. Sir, do you know what that thing is?' Dumbledore considered he was now looking as though he was caught out at a secret.

'How did you find this creature? It was safely secured in a locked corridor' asked Dumbledore calmly.

'I uh… actually don't know sir, see I was sort of um… semi conscious at the time'

'How do you mean?'

'I was, thinking very intensely at the time, when I found the leg thing' Dumbledore now looked as though there was now way he could escape.

'I do know what that animal was Harry, but If you want to know all the answers of all the questions that are buzzing around in your head, you'll have to be patient and listen carefully to a very long story.' Harry just nodded his head, not believing that he is talking to the headmaster at three thirty in the morning about a sinister beast and about twelve hours ago he was playing Quidditch.

'Harry, that animal you have just witnessed is called a Stagon, the Stagon lives in forest areas around the world, they live for only a year and their egg hatches about a thousand years after it was lain. So, the Stagon is very rare and there are about five of them living within the millennium so you will only get to see one every two hundred years, and that is if you search the entire world.'

'But sir, what is it doing at Hogwarts?' asked Harry, Dumbledore did not answer at once he just looked at Harry as though making up his mind about something, in the end he did answer him.

'Aurors under my instruction brought it to Hogwarts, The Order of the Phoenix have intelligence that Voldemort desires to own the Stagon and wishes to obtain it. So we are holding from Lord Voldemort, preventing him from having it'

'Oh' said Harry, Dumbledore had this glint in his look now which firmly told Harry he was not going to know anymore than that. 'Then um, sorry for disturbing you…sir'

'You were not disturbing me, I wasn't sleeping'

'Okay, um… thank you for listening to me, sir'

'Goodbye Harry' said Dumbledore, and without further ado Harry zapped out of the faster than light, he felt very interfering barging into Dumbledore's office in the middle of the night.

Harry had been experiencing so many different feelings that day that now he just felt completely exhausted. From glee and happiness, to hope and anxiety, to depression and despair, to shock and trauma, and finally downright annoyance.   

Harry walked incredibly slowly back up to Gryffindor tower, he didn't care if he was caught out of bounds or not, he just needed some time to drain everything out of him. By the time he reached the common room, Hermione was fast asleep in her armchair, Harry shook her until she was semi unconscious but she just mumbled something about squares. Harry trudged up to his dormitory and slept fully clothed, sprawled on his bed.

He had had the longest day ever.

_Author's Note: Did you like it? Please review, here are my messages…_

_Miraboo: thanks for your review, I absolutely loved it, Aimi Spence will come, patience is a virtue. I am really touched how you say you are never disappointed and hope this doesn't make you disappointed in me._

_Melvianna: Once again, I don't understand a single word you type. But thanks for the review. I know I am my own individual, and I am not going to lean on anyone for my writing abilities, However JKR has inspired me greatly, but I am not fussing over weather my fan fic is as good as her standard. Hope your Goblin is okay, thanks for your review, and I hope you liked this chapter._

_Ted M. Hammet: You lost as an author at the beginning, I don't think that you would have read this Chapter either. I have to disagree with you on believing that JKR made Ginny and Harry a star crossed love relationship, I honestly don't have a clue who Harry will be going out with in Book 6 and 7, but this is My fan fic, and I can tell you that not everything in this plot is sinking in despair. Just try and read the rest and you'll find out what will happen._

_HgandRHrforever: Good to know someone thinks it is sad! Thanks for reviewing and hope you liked this Chapter._


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I bloody well own nothing, (please excuse my language)_ _Author's not: One week left till results! I am so Scared and I think I just won't go, but then my parents will kill me, so I'd rather not die . I hope you like this chapter, I am so, so sorry that I haven't posted up for so long, I just have been rather busy with the renovation and everything, but I won't even start to explain all of that. No thanks to my sister again as she didn't help me proof read my chapter, we are now past half way! This is for my older sister because she complains a lot, so, this chapter is to show to her that are worse things you could be stuck in. Enjoy… _ Chapter 8 

Sunday was a very isolating day for Harry. He woke up at two o'clock that day as a result of his exhaustion from the night before. Ginny had stayed true to her word of remaining friends, she came up to Harry when he was having lunch and tried to make a stable conversation but things became naturally awkward between them and the attempt failed.

Monday was as hard as the day before, Hagrid did seem to notice Harry's absence of speech during Care of Magical Creatures, but didn't approach him about the matter. He had a free double lesson after Hagrid's teaching which Harry's used to wallow himself in the mountain pile of homework as a perfect excuse to not talk to anyone, especially Hermione who seemed to want to talk a lot to Harry lately. He had Defence against the Dark arts after that and Professor Bendlow taught the class in her usual way, a method that surprisingly disciplined the pupils and taught them something without them hating her. She didn't notice Harry as he forced Ron and Hermione to move to the back of the class. The trio had Professor Flitwick after lunch and there was too much racket for anyone to notice Harry's presence let alone his mood, but the only way he could drive everything out of his head for at least a few hours was to practice his spells with all the concentration he could muster and marinate it into his task.

Tuesday and Wednesday was the just the same as Monday, Harry just put all his efforts of trying to forget Saturday into his work, he was starting to scare Hermione and Ron now, he would not talk to them unless it was necessary and would bury himself in work and avoid anyone, but that would change on Thursday.

Harry hated Thursdays, purely because he had no free lessons that day, being in sixth year made him forget what it was like to have a full time timetable. Defence against the Dark arts was a really good subject and he always enjoyed himself in those lessons but now he just stayed as silent as a stone, he then would have charms that wasn't bad either however it sometimes gave him a head ache with all the commotion in the class. But then the next half of the day was torture, Transfiguration was mind stretching as it was extremely difficult especially now as Harry was studying it at newt level. But worst of all was Potions, Snape never stopped despising Harry since first year but he never stopped tormenting Harry since he looked into his Pensieve, so it was sort of like extreme studying, trying to learn from Snape when he tried to punish Harry at every little thing that he did, weather wrong or write.

That morning in Defence Against the Dark arts Professor Bendlow had split up the class in two groups and the class was playing magical hang man, where a dilemma was given to the class and they had to say the right spell for the proper line of defence, however if you guessed wrong you would have to eat a strange coulored bean from a large pack of Bertie Bott's Every flavour bean and the winner got to have a chocolate frog each. There was a half drawn man hanging from a rope on the blackboard and it was struggling with all its might with only one arm to get free.

Harry was still in his deep depression state, and this time Professor Bendlow did notice Harry shrewdly and she kept giving him knowing glances through the lesson.

'Uh that was disgusting!' shrieked a girl who had bitten into a slightly greenish bean and ran from the class.

'I hope we'll see her at the end of the lesson' said professor Bendlow anxiously 'Okay blue team!' she said loudly 'what is your guess?' the group to the right of the classroom huddled together and then dispersed themselves again, Neville put up his hand and Bendlow inclined her head,

'The temporary blinding spell?' he said cautiously not wanting to face the consequences.

'That is right! Finally…I thought you lot would never get it' Neville squealed with glittering happiness. 'Here you lot have chocolate frog' and she threw the a dozen chocolate frogs to the blue team. The other group looked disgruntled, 'here you go you didn't think that I'd let you leave without chocolate?' she said in mock hurt, the rest of the class looked just as satisfied as the other winning half. The bell rang and the class was streaming out of the class all of them saying good bye and always getting a reply back.

Harry was foot outside the door when Professor Bendlow called him back.

'Harry may I have word with you please?' she asked politely. Harry looked from Hermione to Ron and back again.

'We'll be in the library' said Hermione and Ron just shrugged his shoulders at Harry through uncertainty.

'Okay' said Harry to the other two, not sure what Bendlow was going to talk to him about, unless it was his standard in class, in those few seconds that he walked towards the his teacher's desk a whole new world opened up to him. What if he was doing poorly? What if she kicked him out of her class? What would he do? He had been leaning heavily on this subject to enter into auror training, there was nothing else he could do.

'Harry, you seemed really down these past couple of days, is everything alright?' she asked kindly.

'No' said Harry quickly.

'Harry, listen to me, a person talked to me and it involves you.'

'Who?'

'Don't you think you should know?' she said while whipping out her wand, then it clicked and before Harry could stop himself…

'Why did Ginny talk to you?' said Harry immediately.

'Well I called her to me actually'

'What did she say?' asked Harry desperately.

'Hold your hippogriffs' she said calmly 'at first she wouldn't say anything, then she said the outlines of what happened after the Quidditch match' here she stopped, waiting for Harry to blush but it never happened. So she carried on. 'She said it shook her a bit, what you did was definitely not expected, Harry' she said wisely. Harry now had a sheet of exhaustion cover him now, it seemed that Professor Bendlow had noticed.

'Take a seat Harry' and Harry sat down on the wooden chair not noticing that he actually had sat down. The rain beat hard on the window now, making a sort of shivering noise which echoed through the empty classroom.

'I wish I had never told her' murmured Harry, burying his head in his hands. There was silence where Bendlow looked at him shrewdly.

'I am disappointed in you' She said while conjuring a cup of steaming tea with her graceful wand. Harry looked up, no longer burying his face into his hands, with a slightly annoyed expression.

'What?' he said rudely, then covered his mistake 'Professor?' he said politely.

'Well I think you telling Miss Weasley that you like her was a very wise and brave move' Harry blushed but looked puzzled altogether.

'Uh…why?'

'Do you truly regret telling her?' asked the professor, ignoring Harry's question. Harry said nothing he wasn't quite sure. 'Look, do you really like Miss Weasley?

'Yes, said Harry, still feeling that it was forbidden to say that aloud.

'Then now she knows a clearer picture, she knows your opinion of her and she'll find out how to react around you and see you in a new light, she can now make a decision' said Professor Bendlow wisely, stirring her cup of tea and sipping it occasionally.

'She's made her decision already, besides she's dating someone else' said Harry hopelessly looking at his teacher in a bewildered fashion,

'Wait…and be patient' she said, and that was it, Harry opened his mouth to retort and state clearly that he was stuck in a dead end, that nothing he ever dead was going to change his mind, but she cut him. 'If you really really like her Harry, than don't give up' and she ushered him out of the classroom, exactly when the bell rang. Harry then ran to the Charms classroom slipping into the room where people were levitating off of their chairs and others were causing their books to rip themselves. He found Ron and Hermione seated next to each other bickering.

'Oh come on now, there is no way you could use a cushioning charm for that!' spat Ron, Hermione didn't retort as she had just noticed Harry.

'Hey what did Professor Bendlow want with you?' asked Hermione excitedly.

'Um… I'll tell you later' murmured Harry glancing at Ron; he remembered that Ron still didn't know anything about after the Quidditch match.

After Charms Harry told Hermione what Professor Bendlow had told him after the class while Ron had gone to the toilet.

'She is right of course' said Hermione who was deep in thought.

'I dunno… it was like she new absolutely everything about it' said Harry wonderingly.

'Well, it seems like she does Harry' said Hermione cautiously.

'Huh?' said Harry bewildered,

'Oh never mind, Ron's back anyway.'

And they all walked to the Transfiguration room. Transfiguration was as merciless as usual, Harry had grown an increasing bad temper and his frustration at trying to transfigure a dog into a cat was not helping, there was barking all around the classroom and this was not helping Harry either, he was trying to figure out what he should do to make Ginny like him, and it was fogging all sense of concentration he had controlled over the past couple of days. A small release was when the bell rang, lunch was next and Harry could refuel himself, he was feeling weak and tired, but lunch had now turned into a frustrating session just like all the other lessons.

Harry would now inspect the great hall whenever he set foot into it. Ginny would always just stick to eating her meal, or talk with her friends, while Harry would search for the guy who is dating Ginny, no one ever came up to Ginny except Colin Creevey and Harry would never believe in a million years that Ginny would start dating him. Harry would twist and turn his neck in every direction along all of the house tables including Slytherin and search frantically, he would only stop when Ron complained that he was making him dizzy.

Harry's mounting anger quickly turned into jealousy during lunch, Ginny would never approach him now, and Harry started attacking the mystery person who was dating Ginny, subconsciously.

'Oh what does she see in this person anyway?' thought Harry while walking on his own to potions 'he's probably got loads of spots, yeah, and he's probably as stupid as Goyal.' And with these vicious thoughts he walked a little bit more satisfyingly towards the dungeons. But no sooner had another thought popped into his mind than a broomstick whacked him in the face.

'What the-' but he noticed too late. Peeves the poltergeist was hanging upside down, swooping right in front of his face.

'Boo!' he screamed and then he cackled merrily, making Harry jump. Harry tried to ignore him as usual but his temper was rising swiftly again. Harry continued to walk.

'Yes, it's the return of Potty wee Potter'

'Go away Peeves'

'Going somewhere Potty?'

'Yeah, as a matter of fact, I was'

'Potty wee Potter got it in for a girl?' said Peeves tantalisingly, Harry stopped in his tracks.

'What!' said Harry, shocked.

'Potty got it in for a girl?' repeated Peeves in that hatefully evil voice.

'No' said Harry

'Ha ha! Potty is gay!'

'No' said Harry heatedly.

'Potty wee Potter is gay!' shrieked peeves gleefully.

'Oh my God' breathed Harry, and he continued his way to Snape's classroom. Soon enough Harry had to sprint as Peeves was chasing after him with the Broomstick singing evilly 'Potty wee Potter is gay!' and trying to whack Harry around his head. Harry reached the Potions room, panting, you could still hear Peeves singing, the Slytherins had to suppress very emphatically their giggles and laughter.

'Your late' said a sinister voice softly.

'Sorry, sir, Peeves kept-'

'No excuses, you will do an extra essay for me on the properties of Fwooper hairs as punishment, do I make myself clear?' said Snape.

'Yes, sir' said Harry miserably, he trudged to his desk where Ron and Hermione were sitting at the back of the classroom. They gave him sympathetic looks which, if possible, made Harry even angrier. He was grumpy for the rest of the class and he blocked every one from hearing range and just continued to work solitary on his speeding potion.

At the end of his school day he was up to his forehead in homework and was locked up in the Gryffindor common room. Harry was trying to finish his five essays three of which were due for the next day. Hermione was working silently and Ron was itching the back of his head trying to think of answers for the questions he was assigned. Harry was sick of it all, he was miserable, with Katie paranoid about the next Gryffindor match even though they had just had one and the next one was ages away, and all the homework he had to do and then there was dealing with rejection from Ginny and even though Harry learnt and accepted it, Sirius's death. He didn't ever forget it, it was always hanging around in some measure of size, whether big or small, there was always a rainy cloud on top of him. Harry was staring at the back of Ginny's beautiful head when a sharp voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

'No that is not right Ron' whined Hermione

'Can't you just leave me alone for just one minute?'

'Ron I am trying to help you, not torture you!'

'Yeah, well it really does feel painful at the moment'

'Who said it's not painful for me?' said Hermione in a slightly lower voice, loaded with emotion.

'Your always correcting people, can't you just leave it for once?' said Ron ruthlessly.

'But I am helping you!'

'Your not, you just make people feel more stupid!'

'No I do n-'

'Will you two just shut up!' shouted Harry, finally losing his patience. Just like last year, Hermione and Ron's faces were shocked, they were both silent.

'Harry-' started Hermione but Harry interrupted her again.

'I have had enough of all of this!' and he left everything at the table and turned towards the portrait hole.

'Harry where are you going?' asked Hermione, nearly close to tears.

'To a place where there is some bloody peace!' and Harry stormed out of the portrait hole, whacking the portrait behind him.

_Author's Note: really depressed here, the weather is horrid, anyway here are my notes…_

_To my two faithful reviewers… I loved both your review, I have taken on your criticism Miraboo and am in the process of processing it, Melvianna…always a pleasure reading your review._

_By the way, if any one's interested I did a one shot fic and it is mainly fluff, very unlike me mind you, and I might write a bit more for that fic._


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing, as usual except the plot.

Authors note: For Sabah, because it is her birthday, Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, but during that time, I wrote 'After the Quidditch game' and 'Thanks to the Silence' read them if you like, they over shadow what is in store for Harry, Anyway, I am rambling, here is Chapter 9.

Chapter 9

Harry was absolutely storming; he had had enough from Hermione, Ron and everybody! He had had enough from studying like hell for exams he wasn't sure he would be alive to take, and Ginny was now avoiding him, something that pained him the most.

Just like the night he had discovered the Stagon his legs were carrying him anywhere, he wasn't quite sure where he was leading to, but he put his full trust in his feet who seemed to have a mind of its own, he passed plenty of corridors and plenty of door when he came across one he had seen before, something about it stirred his memory, it's handsome oak wood caught his eyes, and he leant against it, wondering why it made him remember bubbles, then it came to him, this was the prefects bathroom.

'Excellent' Harry muttered to himself, it was indeed the thing he needed most, a bath.

'just what I need, a bath' and just as he said this the door creaked open, Harry looked bewildered, he had forgotten about the password and it seemed to him that he had said it by accident, there didn't seem to be any other option, how could he just pass up a perfect opportunity when he had just stumbled across it.

Harry crept inside the bathroom, perfectly aware that no one could see him under the invisibility cloak; he pulled it off once he had reached the gleaming taps, he looked around and thankfully no one else was around, and without further ado, he dived into the pool like bath tub fully clothed and without a damned care in the world.

'You make quite a splash you know' said an oddly familiar voice, and Harry gulped knowing that he would be in trouble for this, he swam towards the end of the pool and looked to his right, Moaning Myrtle was right there looking at him fondly, Harry gulped knowing that what was coming wouldn't be anything good.

'Uh, hello Myrtle'

'Hello Harry' she said dreamily, Harry gulped again. 'You haven't come to visit me since you last came here' she said, Harry's head was working furiously for an excuse.

'Erm, yeah, sorry about that, just that, erm, I had a lot to with exams and everything.' Said Harry his voice growing increasingly weaker; his excuse however positioned him in an even more awkward position.

'Oh, poor you!' she exclaimed, floating ever more closer towards him,

'Uh, uh yeah' said Harry, panicking now.

'Well, you should visit me more often then, I can still remember quite a lot from, when I used to study.' She said softly. And through Harry's panic he said something very stupid, since he knew how sensitive Moaning Myrtle was.

'So you haven't forgotten anything since you died?'

'What!' she screamed, 'Oh just because I'm dead doesn't mean I have a memory the size of a pea!' then her voice changed ever so dangerously. 'But for your, Harry, I can remember everything' she was far too close, it chilled Harry to the bone, and he was more frightened beyond anything he had experienced.

Harry's heart started to pump very fast, he would do anything at that moment to just turn and run, but she seemed to have paralysed him, and he had forgotten how to run

'You really should come to my toilet Harry' she said as though this was a treat for him.

'I…I, tha…thank you' he gulped 'Myrtle, um, I think I should go now, actually' Myrtle seemed crestfallen.

'Oh, well you know where to find me' she said quietly, obviously really upset.

'Yeah well, I do have a lot of homework, so we'll see' he said quickly, getting up from the pool as quick as he could.

'Oh, okay' she said quietly,

'Yeah, yeah' Harry would continually say awkwardly trying as hard as he could to run out of the bathroom, he didn't look behind him and noticed that he was still drenched, but he didn't really mind all he could think of was to run out of the corridor before Filch found out he was there and could punish him for making a mess on the corridor floor, He kept on running, disturbed by what he had experience, it was only when he nearly reached the portrait of the fat lady did he stop running and he quickly performed the complicated wand movement that was part of the Spell Hermione ad thought him at the beginning of term, he thought that it would be useful and indeed, it indeed it was, he wouldn't want the whole of Gryffindor house knowing what had happened.

He gave the Password to the suspicious looking Fat Lady and entered the Common Room (this time it was Sugar bums), Harry spotted Hermione and Ron, in a corner doing homework and scowling at each other. Harry walked over to them and sat on an armchair directly opposite both of them. They both took one look at his contorted face and burst into enquiries.

'What happened to you Harry' enquired Hermione.

'What the hell happened to you?' blurted out Ron.

'I have absolutely no idea' said Harry simply.

'What is it Harry, your not making any sense' said Hermione.

'Well, I found the Prefects' Bathroom…'

'Yeah and?' said Ron.

'Well, I… well…uh…'

'Just say it' said Ron annoyed.

'Moaning Myrtle just tried to seduce me' said Harry without stuttering. He was not prepared for his best friends' reactions, he didn't think how, or what would happen. Ron cracked up laughing, his face was turning red, he had tears in his eyes, Harry wished he could laugh with him, but he couldn't at that pint he was just too disturbed, Hermione was smiling and looked as though she was doing everything in her power to restrict herself from giggling, and with what looked like every ounce of energy she had turned back to er homework and could help smiling to herself.

'So what happened?' asked Ron gulping for air in between word to catch his breath.

'Er, I don't think I want to say, and I doubt you want to hear'

'Believe me I want to hear this' said Ron.

'No, no, you not getting anything from me'

'Alright, but tell me if anything happens after the Christmas Holiday' he said mockingly.

'Shut up.' Said Harry, brand new images flashing in his mind, almost making him puke.

Ron's Family had insisted upon Harry coming to join them for Christmas but Harry had to decline their offer, finding out that he had much more homework and would only finish it at Hogwarts so he reluctantly said no to Ron and he wasn't the only one who was disappointed, Harry couldn't imagine how he was going to be able to stay within ten feet of Ginny after what had happened, never mind staying in the same house as her. She was obviously avoiding him and he only was around her at Quidditch practices, and he was only ever brave enough to catch a few precious glimmers of her before he'd chicken out and look the other way.

Harry had had enough of Ron's sudden outbursts of laughter even after had subsided and sobered, so he headed up to his Dormitory and continued his homework there.

It was now the Christmas holiday and Harry was depressed and stuck in the library, buried under books and he had even been hit by a flying on that had zoomed into his direction from nowhere, just then Professor McGonagall came into the Library and wearing her usual formidable expression, she walked briskly to his desk and he looked up at her with the air of a small lost boy.

'Potter come with me' she said imperiously and he stuffed everything ungracefully into his bag and followed his head, Harry had no idea what he had done now, maybe Filch had caught him after all, or maybe it was something much worse, maybe something had happened at the Burrow. His insides seem to crush with the thought but he refused to think about it any longer, they had now reached her office and opened the door unbearably slowly, and to Harry's immense relief Remus Lupin was standing at the window waiting for Harry's arrival.

'Hello Harry' he said welcomingly.

'Professor Lupin?' Harry asked unbelievably, he looked very pale even had even more greying hairs,

'The one and only' he said, chuckling,

'I'll be in the Great Hall, if you need me Mr. Lupin' she said kindly and left the room.

'What brings you hear Professor?' asked Harry very pleased to his old professor.

'I wanted to see how you were Harry' he said.

'Well, I'm alright guess'

'Nothing beating you down?' he asked, and Harry had a shrewd suspicion that his old teacher was talking about his Godfather, and instead of pursuing the dangerous thread of conversation he switched the topic over, 'well, I have had better days, school work is unbelievable, and other things, but, er what about you?'

'I've also had better days and but being in the order keeps me busy anyway.' He said sadly. It was like two men stuck in the same grave, they stood there for the slightest fraction for a moment and reflecting, and then returning to their glum state.

'Thanks for the present by the way, I just can't figure it out' said Harry trying to break the silence, Lupin looked a little confused but didn't comment, Harry didn't think he was listening as he looked half lost and half out of sleepy.

They talked for a little longer and to Harry's dismay; Professor Lupin left McGonagall's office, complaining of how he needed to see Dumbledore about something to do with the order. Harry was left on his oen, and as he had nothing better to do and it was too late to go back to the library, he thought that he would return to Gryffindor Tower and wait for Dinner, he slung over his heavily overloaded book bag and left the office, which in any light always looked forbidden and formidable.

It was only when Harry was walking at his extremely slow pace due to the very heavy bag, did he hear a slight giggle out of the corner of the corridor behind him, he turned around to see who it was, the giggle made him feel very uneasy as it had a certain morbid texture to it, he couldn't see anyone and he was certainly alone.

He walked a little, retaking his steps and turning his head to look right, there, he saw something that strangely jerked something in him, Harry saw the same boy who came with him and his friends on the carriage to School, he was also the same person talked about by Hermione and Ginny at the welcoming feast, he saw Max Sandwich guiding another usually giggling girl from hufflepuff he noticed was in fourth year into a broom closet, however, she wasn't giggling now, on the contrary, she looked rather uncomfortable when seeing the broom closet but nodded her head at something that Max sandwich was whispering to her, they walked into the closet, Harry had very sick feeling in his stomach and it passed onto his liver, neither of the couple noticed Harry intrude upon their privacy and so, taking this as an advantage, Harry looked away and retreated onto his march towards Gryffindor Tower.

For some strange reason he felt that what he had witnessed was wrong, he felt that what Max Sandwich did was forbidden, he didn't know what his fellow schoolmate was doing, however, it didn't seem right, the look on the girl's face seemed to haunt Harry, and what he had just seen seemed to be wrong.

All the time on his journey back to Gryffindor Tower Harry cold hear soft clicking sounds, like a horse's hooves, he stopped quite a few times and turned around but as always he found himself alone and deserted. It was rather depressing; it just continually reminded Harry on how alone he was.

As Harry just reached the landing where the portrait of the Fat lady was he passed another painting that yelled out to him.

'Lo Valiant warier!' Harry's head cricked as he tried to turn it at the speed of light towards the painting, when Harry sobered himself, he noticed that Sir Cadogan and his drunk horse was looming at him out of the painting. Harry rolled his eyes, 'Not you' he muttered. Harry felt that the last person he wanted to see was Sir Cadogan and he would rather be alone that be around him. At the moment Harry felt sympathetic towards the woman with a bucket of milk who had to stick herself to the side of her wooden frame in order to avoid being knocked unconscious by the stupid Knight.

'What makes thee so sad, Sir?' asked Sir Cadogan annoyingly.

'What?' said Harry rudely.

'Is the villain striking?' he asked, his eyes alert.

'What the bloody hell are you on about?' said Harry his voice growing louder.

'The sandwich has struck again!' he yelled.

'Wha-' started Harry, annoyed at the horsemen, but the knight interrupted him.

'The mangy cur sandwich, has struck against your maiden' he said. Harry's eyes widened, he was completely at a loss to what this character was saying.

'What! I don't have a bloody maiden!' said Harry, and at the worst possible moment he felt very slightly embarrassed by what he had said.

'Lo, you are wrong, brave Knight!' Sir Cadogan Yelled. 'Stand and against your enemies'

'I'm not going to do anything' and just as Harry turned to leave…

'Sandwich has clutched his Claws around Maid Virginia' said Sir Cadogan, with the air of a messenger.

'Bloody Hell.' Said Harry, the wheels in his head started to turn, could he mean… 'Sir Cadogan, can you tell me is Max Sandwich dating Ginny' asked Harry his voice strangely hollow.

'They have been united' said the knight, finally making some sense.

'And I just saw him with someone else' said Harry distantly

'The mangy cur' said Sir Cadogan.

Author's Note: hope you liked it.

Melvianna: how's your toothache? Thanks for reading, hope this wasn't a disappointment. Maybe I do make out that Harry is a little obsessed, well maybe a lot, but I'll work on that.

Miraboo: here is another wonderful chapter for you to review, I thought I made out Harry to go straight to Dumbledore wasn't a good idea either; I should work on that too.


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